Seeing my life has been such a chequer-work of nature, and that I am
able now to look back upon it from a safer distance than is ordinarily
the fate of the clan to which I once belonged, I think my history may
find a place in the world as well as some who I see are every day read
with pleasure, though they have in them nothing so diverting or
instructing as I believe mine will appear to be.

My original may be as high as anybody's for aught I know, for my
mother kept very good company; but that part belongs to her story more
than to mine. All I know of it is by oral tradition, thus: My nurse
told me my mother was a gentlewoman, that my father was a man of
quality, and she (my nurse) had a good piece of money given her to
take me off his hands, and deliver him and my mother from the
importunities that usually attend the misfortune of having a child to
keep that should not be seen or heard of.

My father, it seems, gave my nurse something more than was agreed for,
at my mother's request, upon her solemn promise that she would use me
well and let me be put to school; and charged her, that if I lived to
come to any bigness, capable to understand the meaning of it, she
should always take care to bid me remember that I was a gentleman; and
this, he said, was all the education he would desire of her for me;
for he did not doubt, he said, but that, some time or other, the very
hint would inspire me with thoughts suitable to my birth, and that I
would certainly act like a gentleman, if I believed myself to be so.

But my disasters were not directed to end as soon as they began. It is
very seldom that the unfortunate are so but for a day; as the great
rise by degrees of greatness to the pitch of glory in which they
shine, so the miserable sink to the depth of their misery by a
continued series of disasters, and are long in the tortures and
agonies of their distressed circumstances, before a turn of fortune,
if ever such a thing happens to them, gives them a prospect of
deliverance.

My nurse was as honest to the engagement she had entered into as could
be expected from one of her employment, and particularly as honest as
her circumstances would give her leave to be; for she bred me up very
carefully with her own son, and with another son of shame like me,
whom she had taken upon the same terms.

My name was John, as she told me, but neither she or I knew anything
of a surname that belonged to me; so I was left to call myself Mr.
Anything, what I pleased, as fortune and better circumstances should
give occasion.

It happened that her own son (for she had a little boy of her own,
about one year older than I) was called John too; and about two years
after she took another son of shame, as I called it above, to keep as
she did me, and his name was John too.

As we were all Johns, we were all Jacques, and soon came to be called
so; for at that part of the town where we had our breeding, viz., near
Goodman's Fields, the Johns are generally called Jacque; but my nurse,
who may be allowed to distinguish her own son a little from the rest,
would have him called captain, because, forsooth, he was the eldest.

I was provoked at having this boy called captain, and I cried, and
told my nurse I would be called captain; for she told me I was a
gentleman, and I would be a captain, that I would. The good woman, to
keep the peace, told me, ay, ay, I was a gentleman, and therefore I
should be above a captain, for I should be a colonel, and that was a
great deal better than a captain; "for, my dear," says she, "every
tarpauling, if he gets but to be lieutenant of a press smack, is
called captain, but colonels are soldiers, and none but gentlemen are
ever made colonels. Besides," says she, "I have known colonels come to
be lords and generals, though they were bastards at first, and
therefore you shall be called colonel."

Well, I was hushed indeed with this for the present, but not
thoroughly pleased, till, a little while after, I heard her tell her
own boy that I was a gentleman, and therefore he must call me colonel;
at which her boy fell a-crying, and he would be called colonel. That
part pleased me to the life, that he should cry to be called colonel,
for then I was satisfied that it was above a captain: so universally
is ambition seated in the minds of men that not a beggar-boy but has
his share of it.

So here was Colonel Jacque and Captain Jacque. As for the third boy,
he was only plain Jacque for some years after, till he came to
preferment by the merit of his birth, as you shall hear in its place.

We were hopeful boys, all three of us, and promised very early, by
many repeated circumstances of our lives, that we would be all rogues;
and yet I cannot say, if what I have heard of my nurse's character be
true, but the honest woman did what she could to prevent it.

Before I tell you much more of our story, it would be very proper to
give you something of our several characters, as I have gathered them
up in my memory, as far back as I can recover things, either of myself
or my brother Jacques, and they shall be brief and impartial.

Captain Jacque was the eldest of us all, by a whole year. He was a
squat, big, strong-made boy, and promised to be stout when grown up to
be a man, but not to be tall. His temper was sly, sullen, reserved,
malicious, revengeful; and, withal, he was brutish, bloody, and cruel
in his disposition. He was, as to manners, a mere boor, or clown, of a
carman-like breed; sharp as a street-bred boy must be, but ignorant
and unteachable from a child. He had much the nature of a bull-dog,
bold and desperate, but not generous at all. All the schoolmistresses
we went to could never make him learn--no, not so much as to make him
know his letters; and as if he was born a thief, he would steal
everything that came near him, even as soon almost as he could speak;
and that not from his mother only, but from anybody else, and from us
too that were his brethren and companions. He was an original rogue,
for he would do the foulest and most villainous things, even by his
own inclination; he had no taste or sense of being honest--no, not, I
say, to his brother rogues, which is what other thieves make a point
of honour of; I mean that of being honest to one another.

The other, that is to say, the youngest of us Johns, was called Major
Jacque, by the accident following: The lady that had deposited him
with our nurse had owned to her that it was a major of the Guards that
was the father of the child, but that she was obliged to conceal his
name, and that was enough. So he was at first called John the Major,
and afterwards the Major; and at last, when we came to rove together,
Major Jacque, according to the rest, for his name was John, as I have
observed already.

Major Jacque was a merry, facetious, pleasant boy, had a good share of
wit, especially off-hand-wit, as they call it; was full of jests and
good humour, and, as I often said, had something of a gentleman in
him. He had a true manly courage, feared nothing, and could look death
in the face without any hesitation; and yet, if he had the advantage,
was the most generous and most compassionate creature alive. He had
native principles of gallantry in him, without anything of the brutal
or terrible part that the captain had; and, in a word, he wanted
nothing but honesty to have made him an excellent man. He had learned
to read, as I had done; and as he talked very well, so he wrote good
sense and very handsome language, as you will see in the process of
his story.

As for your humble servant, Colonel Jacque, he was a poor, unhappy,
tractable dog, willing enough, and capable too, to learn anything, if
he had had any but the devil for his schoolmaster. He set out into the
world so early, that when he began to do evil, he understood nothing
of the wickedness of it, nor what he had to expect for it. I remember
very well that when I was once carried before a justice, for a theft
which indeed I was not guilty of, and defended myself by argument,
proving the mistakes of my accusers, and how they contradicted
themselves, the justice told me it was a pity I had not been better
employed, for I was certainly better taught; in which, however, his
worship was mistaken, for I had never been taught anything but to be a
thief; except, as I said, to read and write, and that was all, before
I was ten years old; but I had a natural talent of talking, and could
say as much to the purpose as most people that had been taught no more
than I.

I passed among my comrades for a bold, resolute boy, and one that
durst fight anything; but I had a different opinion of myself, and
therefore shunned fighting as much as I could, though sometimes I
ventured too, and came off well, being very strong made and nimble
withal. However, I many times brought myself off with my tongue, where
my hands would not have been sufficient, and this as well after I was
a man as while I was a boy.

I was wary and dexterous at my trade, and was not so often catched as
my fellow-rogues--I mean while I was a boy, and never after I came to
be a man; no, not once for twenty-six years, being so old in the
trade, and still unhanged, as you shall hear.

As for my person, while I was a dirty glass-bottle-house boy, sleeping
in the ashes, and dealing always in the street dirt, it cannot be
expected but that I looked like what I was, and so we did all; that is
to say, like a "black-your-shoes-your-honour," a beggar-boy, a
blackguard-boy, or what you please, despicable and miserable to the
last degree; and yet I remember the people would say of me, "That boy
has a good face; if he was washed and well dressed, he would be a
good, pretty boy. Do but look; what eyes he has; what a pleasant,
smiling countenance! 'Tis a pity. I wonder what the rogue's father and
mother was," and the like. Then they would call me, and ask me my
name, and I would tell them my name was Jacque. "But what's your
surname, sirrah?" says they. "I don't know," says I. "Who is your
father and mother?" "I have none," said I. "What, and never had you
any?" said they. "No," says I, "not that I know of." Then they would
shake their heads and cry, "Poor boy!" and "'Tis a pity," and the
like; and so let me go. But I laid up all these things in my heart.

I was almost ten years old, the captain eleven, and the major about
eight, when the good woman my nurse died. Her husband was a seaman,
and had been drowned a little before in the _Gloucester_ frigate, one
of the king's ships which was cast away going to Scotland with the
Duke of York in the time of King Charles II., and the honest woman
dying very poor, the parish was obliged to bury her; when the three
young Jacques attended her corpse, and I, the colonel (for we all
passed for her own children), was chief mourner; the captain, who was
the eldest son, going back very sick.

The good woman being dead, we, the three Jacques, were turned loose to
the world. As to the parish providing for us, we did not trouble
ourselves much about that; we rambled about all three together, and
the people in Rosemary Lane and Ratcliff, and that way, knowing us
pretty well, we got victuals easily enough and without much begging.

For my particular part, I got some reputation for a mighty civil,
honest boy; for if I was sent off an errand, I always did it
punctually and carefully, and made haste again; and if I was trusted
with any thing, I never touched it to diminish it, but made it a point
of honour to be punctual to whatever was committed to me, though I was
as arrant a thief as any of them in all other cases.

In like case, some of the poorer shopkeepers would often leave me at
their door, to look after their shops till they went up to dinner, or
till they went over the way to an alehouse, and the like, and I always
did it freely and cheerfully, and with the utmost honesty.

Captain Jacque, on the contrary, a surly, ill-looking, rough boy, had
not a word in his mouth that savoured either of good manners or good
humour; he would say "Yes" and "No," just as he was asked a question,
and that was all, but nobody got any thing from him that was obliging
in the least. If he was sent off an errand he would forget half of it,
and it may be go to play, if he met any boys, and never go at all, or
if he went, never come back with an answer, which was such a
regardless, disobliging way that nobody had a good word for him, and
everybody said he had the very look of a rogue, and would come to be
hanged. In a word, he got nothing of anybody for goodwill, but was, as
it were, obliged to turn thief for the mere necessity of bread to eat;
for if he begged, he did it with so ill a tone, rather like bidding
folks give him victuals than entreating them, that one man, of whom he
had something given, and knew him, told him one day, "Captain Jacque,"
says he, "thou art but an awkward, ugly sort of a beggar, now thou art
a boy; I doubt thou wilt be fitter to ask a man for his purse than for
a penny when thou comest to be a man."

The major was a merry, thoughtless fellow, always cheerful; whether he
had any victuals or no, he never complained; and he recommended
himself so well by his good carriage that the neighbours loved him,
and he got victuals enough, one where or other. Thus we all made a
shift, though we were so little, to keep from starving; and as for
lodging, we lay in the summer-time about the watch-houses and on
bulkheads and shop-doors, where we were known. As for a bed, we knew
nothing what belonged to it for many years after my nurse died;
and in winter we got into the ash-holes and nealing-arches in the
glass-house, called Dallow's Glass-house, in Rosemary Lane, or at
another glass-house in Ratcliff Highway.

In this manner we lived for some years; and here we failed not to fall
among a gang of naked, ragged rogues like ourselves, wicked as the
devil could desire to have them be at so early an age, and ripe for
all the other parts of mischief that suited them as they advanced in
years.

I remember that one cold winter night we were disturbed in our rest
with a constable and his watch crying out for one Wry-neck, who, it
seems, had done some roguery, and required a hue-and-cry of that kind;
and the watch were informed he was to be found among the beggar-boys
under the nealing-arches in the glass-house.

The alarm being given, we were awakened in the dead of the night with
"Come out here, ye crew of young devils; come out and show
yourselves;" so we were all produced. Some came out rubbing their eyes
and scratching their heads, and others were dragged out; and I think
there was about seventeen of us in all, but Wry-neck as they called
him, was not among them. It seems this was a good big boy, that used
to be among the inhabitants of that place, and had been concerned in a
robbery the night before, in which his comrade, who was taken, in
hopes of escaping punishment, had discovered him, and informed where
he usually harboured; but he was aware, it seems, and had secured
himself, at least for that time. So we were allowed to return to our
warm apartment among the coal-ashes, where I slept many a cold winter
night; nay, I may say, many a winter, as sound and as comfortably as
ever I did since, though in better lodgings.

In this manner of living we went on a good while, I believe two years,
and neither did or meant any harm. We generally went all three
together; for, in short, the captain, for want of address, and for
something disagreeable in him, would have starved if we had not kept
him with us. As we were always together, we were generally known by
the name of the three Jacques; but Colonel Jacque had always the
preference, upon many accounts. The major, as I have said, was merry
and pleasant, but the colonel always held talk with the better sort--I
mean the better sort of those that would converse with a beggar-boy.
In this way of talk I was always upon the inquiry, asking questions of
things done in public, as well as in private; particularly, I loved to
talk with seamen and soldiers about the war, and about the great
sea-fights or battles on shore that any of them had been in; and, as I
never forgot anything they told me, I could soon, that is to say, in a
few years, give almost as good an account of the Dutch war, and of the
fights at sea, the battles in Flanders, the taking of Maestricht, and
the like, as any of those that had been there; and this made those old
soldiers and tars love to talk with me too, and to tell me all the
stories they could think of, and that not only of the wars then going
on, but also of the wars in Oliver's time, the death of King Charles
I., and the like.

By this means, as young as I was, I was a kind of an historian; and
though I had read no books, and never had any books to read, yet I
could give a tolerable account of what had been done and of what was
then a-doing in the world, especially in those things that our own
people were concerned in. I knew the names of every ship in the navy,
and who commanded them too, and all this before I was fourteen years
old, or but very soon after.

Captain Jacque in this time fell into bad company, and went away from
us, and it was a good while before we ever heard tale or tidings of
him, till about half a year, I think, or thereabouts. I understood he
was got among a gang of kidnappers, as they were then called, being a
sort of wicked fellows that used to spirit people's children away;
that is, snatch them up in the dark, and, stopping their mouths, carry
them to such houses where they had rogues ready to receive them, and
so carry them on board ships bound to Virginia, and sell them.

This was a trade that horrid Jacque, for so I called him when we were
grown up, was very fit for, especially the violent part; for if a
little child got into his clutches, he would stop the breath of it,
instead of stopping its mouth, and never troubled his head with the
child's being almost strangled, so he did but keep it from making a
noise. There was, it seems, some villainous thing done by this gang
about that time, whether a child was murdered among them, or a child
otherwise abused; but it seems it was a child of an eminent citizen,
and the parent somehow or other got a scent of the thing, so that they
recovered their child, though in a sad condition, and almost killed. I
was too young, and it was too long ago, for me to remember the whole
story, but they were all taken up and sent to Newgate, and Captain
Jacque among the rest, though he was but young, for he was not then
much above thirteen years old.

What punishment was inflicted upon the rogues of that gang I cannot
tell now, but the captain, being but a lad, was ordered to be three
times soundly whipped at Bridewell, my Lord Mayor, or the Recorder,
telling him it was done in pity to him, to keep him from the gallows,
not forgetting to tell him that he had a hanging look, and bid him
have a care on that very account; so remarkable was the captain's
countenance, even so young, and which he heard of afterwards on many
occasions. When he was in Bridewell I heard of his misfortune, and the
major and I went to see him; for this was the first news we heard of
what became of him.

The very day that we went he was called out to be corrected, as they
called it, according to his sentence; and as it was ordered to be done
soundly, so indeed they were true to the sentence; for the alderman
who was the president of Bridewell, and whom I think they called Sir
William Turner, held preaching to him about how young he was, and what
pity it was such a youth should come to be hanged, and a great deal
more; how he should take warning by it, and how wicked a thing it was
that they should steal away poor innocent children, and the like; and
all this while the man with a blue badge on lashed him most
unmercifully, for he was not to leave off till Sir William knocked
with a little hammer on the table.

The poor captain stamped and danced, and roared out like a mad boy;
and I must confess I was frighted almost to death; for though I could
not come near enough, being but a poor boy, to see how he was handled,
yet I saw him afterwards with his back all wealed with the lashes, and
in several places bloody, and thought I should have died with the
sight of it; but I grew better acquainted with those things
afterwards.

I did what I could to comfort the poor captain when I got leave to
come to him. But the worst was not over with him, for he was to have
two more such whippings before they had done with him; and indeed they
scourged him so severely that they made him sick of the kidnapping
trade for a great while; but he fell in among them again, and kept
among them as long as that trade lasted, for it ceased in a few years
afterwards.

The major and I, though very young, had sensible impressions made
upon us for some time by the severe usage of the captain, and it might
be very well said we were corrected as well as he, though not
concerned in the crime; but it was within the year that the major, a
good-conditioned, easy boy, was wheedled away by a couple of young
rogues that frequented the glass-house apartments, to take a walk with
them, as they were pleased to call it. The gentlemen were very well
matched; the major was about twelve years old, and the oldest of the
two that led him out was not above fourteen. The business was to go to
Bartholomew Fair, and the end of going to Bartholomew Fair was, in
short, to pick pockets.

The major knew nothing of the trade, and therefore was to do nothing;
but they promised him a share with them for all that, as if he had
been as expert as themselves. So away they went. The two dexterous
young rogues managed it so well that by eight o'clock at night they
came back to our dusty quarters at the glass-house, and, sitting them
down in a corner, they began to share their spoil, by the light of the
glass-house fire. The major lugged out the goods, for as fast as they
made any purchase they unloaded themselves, and gave all to him, that,
if they had been taken, nothing might be found about them.

It was a devilish lucky day to them, the devil certainly assisting
them to find their prey, that he might draw in a young gamester, and
encourage him to the undertaking, who had been made backward before by
the misfortune of the captain. The list of their purchase the first
night was as follows:--

1. A white handkerchief from a country wench, as she was staring up at
a jack-pudding; there was 3s. 6d. and a row of pins tied up in one end
of it.

2. A coloured handkerchief, out of a young country fellow's pocket as
he was buying a china orange.

3. A riband purse with 11s. 3d. and a silver thimble in it, out of a
young woman's pocket, just as a fellow offered to pick her up.

_N.B_.--She missed her purse presently, but, not seeing the thief,
charged the man with it that would have picked her up, and cried out,
"A pickpocket!" and he fell into the hands of the mob, but, being
known in the street, he got off with great difficulty.

4. A knife and fork, that a couple of boys had just bought and were
going home with; the young rogue that took it got it within the minute
after the boy had put it in his pocket.

5. A little silver box with 7s. in it, all in small silver, 1d., 2d.,
3d., 4d. pieces.

_N.B_.--This, it seems, a maid pulled out of her pocket, to pay at her
going into the booth to see a show, and the little rogue got his hand
in and fetched it off, just as she put it up again.

6. Another silk handkerchief, out of a gentleman's pocket.

7. Another.

8. A jointed baby and a little looking-glass, stolen off a
toy-seller's stall in the fair.

All this cargo to be brought home clear in one afternoon, or evening
rather, and by only two little rogues so young, was, it must be
confessed, extraordinary; and the major was elevated the next day to a
strange degree.

He came very early to me, who lay not far from him, and said to me,
"Colonel Jacque, I want to speak with you." "Well," said I, "what do
you say?" "Nay," said he, "it is business of consequence; I cannot
talk here;" so we walked out. As soon as we were come out into a
narrow lane by the glass-house, "Look here," says he, and pulls out
his little hand almost full of money.

I was surprised at the sight, when he puts it up again, and, bringing
his hand out, "Here," says he, "you shall have some of it;" and gives
me a sixpence and a shilling's worth of the small silver pieces. This
was very welcome to me, who, as much as I was of a gentleman, and as
much as I thought of myself upon that account, never had a shilling of
money together before in all my life, not that I could call my own.

I was very earnest then to know how he came by this wealth, for he had
for his share 7s. 6d. in money, the silver thimble, and a silk
handkerchief, which was, in short, an estate to him, that never had,
as I said of myself, a shilling together in his life.

"And what will you do with it now, Jacque?" said I. "I do?" says he.
"The first thing I do I'll go into Rag Fair and buy me a pair of shoes
and stockings." "That's right," says I, "and so will I too;" so away
we went together, and we bought each of us a pair of Rag Fair
stockings in the first place for fivepence; not fivepence a pair, but
fivepence together; and good stockings they were too, much above our
wear, I assure you.

We found it more difficult to fit ourselves with shoes; but at last,
having looked a great while before we could find any good enough for
us, we found a shop very well stored, and of these we bought two pair
for sixteenpence.

We put them on immediately, to our great comfort, for we had neither
of us had any stockings to our legs that had any feet to them for a
long time. I found myself so refreshed with having a pair of warm
stockings on, and a pair of dry shoes--things, I say, which I had not
been acquainted with a great while--that I began to call to my mind my
being a gentleman, and now I thought it began to come to pass. When we
had thus fitted ourselves I said, "Hark ye, Major Jacque, you and I
never had any money in our lives before, and we never had a good
dinner in all our lives. What if we should go somewhere and get some
victuals? I am very hungry."

"So we will, then," says the major; "I am hungry too." So we went to a
boiling cook's in Rosemary Lane, where we treated ourselves nobly,
and, as I thought with myself, we began to live like gentlemen, for we
had three pennyworth of boiled beef, two pennyworth of pudding, a
penny brick (as they call it, or loaf), and a whole pint of strong
beer, which was sevenpence in all.

_N.B_.--We had each of us a good mess of charming beef-broth into the
bargain; and, which cheered my heart wonderfully, all the while we
were at dinner, the maid and the boy in the house, every time they
passed by the open box where we sat at our dinner, would look in and
cry, "Gentlemen, do you call?" and "Do ye call, gentlemen?" I say,
this was as good to me as all my dinner.

Not the best housekeeper in Stepney parish, not my Lord Mayor of
London, no, not the greatest man on earth, could be more happy in
their own imagination, and with less mixture of grief or reflection,
than I was at this new piece of felicity; though mine was but a small
part of it, for Major Jacque had an estate compared to me, as I had an
estate compared to what I had before; in a word, nothing but an utter
ignorance of greater felicity, which was my case, could make anybody
think himself so exalted as I did, though I had no share of this booty
but eighteenpence.

That night the major and I triumphed in our new enjoyment, and slept
with an undisturbed repose in the usual place, surrounded with the
warmth of the glass-house fires above, which was a full amends for all
the ashes and cinders which we rolled in below.

Those who know the position of the glass-houses, and the arches where
they neal the bottles after they are made, know that those places
where the ashes are cast, and where the poor boys lie, are cavities in
the brickwork, perfectly close, except at the entrance, and
consequently warm as the dressing-room of a bagnio, that it is
impossible they can feel any cold there, were it in Greenland or Nova
Zembla, and that therefore the boys lie there not only safe, but very
comfortably, the ashes excepted, which are no grievance at all to
them.

The next day the major and his comrades went abroad again, and were
still successful; nor did any disaster attend them, for I know not how
many months; and, by frequent imitation and direction, Major Jacque
became as dexterous a pickpocket as any of them, and went on through a
long variety of fortunes, too long to enter upon now, because I am
hastening to my own story, which at present is the main thing I have
to set down.

The major failed not to let me see every day the effects of his new
prosperity, and was so bountiful as frequently to throw me a tester,
sometimes a shilling; and I might perceive that he began to have
clothes on his back, to leave the ash-hole, having gotten a society
lodging (of which I may give an explanation by itself on another
occasion); and which was more, he took upon him to wear a shirt, which
was what neither he or I had ventured to do for three years before,
and upward.

But I observed all this while, that though Major Jacque was so
prosperous and had thriven so well, and notwithstanding he was very
kind, and even generous, to me, in giving me money upon many
occasions, yet he never invited me to enter myself into the society or
to embark with him, whereby I might have been made as happy as he; no,
nor did he recommend the employment to me at all.

I was not very well pleased with his being thus reserved to me. I had
learned from him in general that the business was picking of pockets,
and I fancied that though the ingenuity of the trade consisted very
much in sleight-of-hand, a good address, and being very nimble, yet
that it was not at all difficult to learn; and, especially, I thought
the opportunities were so many, the country people that come to London
so foolish, so gaping, and so engaged in looking about them, that it
was a trade with no great hazard annexed to it, and might be easily
learned, if I did but know in general the manner of it, and how they
went about it.

The subtle devil, never absent from his business, but ready at all
occasions to encourage his servants, removed all these difficulties,
and brought him into an intimacy with one of the most exquisite
divers, or pickpockets, in the town; and this, our intimacy, was of no
less a kind than that, as I had an inclination to be as wicked as any
of them, he was for taking care that I should not be disappointed.

He was above the little fellows who went about stealing trifles and
baubles in Bartholomew Fair, and ran the risk of being mobbed for
three or four shillings. His aim was at higher things, even at no less
than considerable sums of money, and bills for more.

He solicited me earnestly to go and take a walk with him as above,
adding that after he had shown me my trade a little, he would let me
be as wicked as I would; that is, as he expressed it, that after he
had made me capable, I should set up for myself, if I pleased, and he
would only wish me good luck.

Accordingly, as Major Jacque went with his gentlemen only to see the
manner, and receive the purchase, and yet come in for a share; so he
told me, if he had success, I should have my share as much as if I had
been principal; and this he assured me was a custom of the trade, in
order to encourage young beginners, and bring them into the trade with
courage, for that nothing was to be done if a man had not the heart of
the lion.

I hesitated at the matter a great while, objecting the hazard, and
telling the story of Captain Jacque, my elder brother, as I might call
him. "Well, colonel," says he, "I find you are faint-hearted, and to
be faint-hearted is indeed to be unfit for our trade, for nothing but
a bold heart can go through stitch with this work; but, however, as
there is nothing for you to do, so there is no risk for you to run in
these things the first time. If I am taken," says he, "you have
nothing to do in it; they will let you go free; for it shall easily be
made appear, that whatever I have done, you had no hand in it."

Upon these persuasions I ventured out with him; but I soon found that
my new friend was a thief of quality, and a pickpocket above the
ordinary rank, and that aimed higher abundantly than my brother
Jacque. He was a bigger boy than I a great deal; for though I was now
near fifteen years old, I was not big of my age; and as to the nature
of the thing, I was perfectly a stranger to it. I knew indeed what at
first I did not, for it was a good while before I understood the thing
as an offence. I looked on picking pockets as a kind of trade, and
thought I was to go apprentice to it. It is true this was when I was
young in the society, as well as younger in years, but even now I
understood it to be only a thing for which, if we were catched, we ran
the risk of being ducked or pumped, which we call soaking, and then
all was over; and we made nothing of having our rags wetted a little;
but I never understood, till a great while after, that the crime was
capital, and that we might be sent to Newgate for it, till a great
fellow, almost a man, one of our society, was hanged for it; and then
I was terribly frighted, as you shall hear by-and-by.

Well, upon the persuasions of this lad, I walked out with him; a poor
innocent boy, and (as I remember my very thoughts perfectly well) I
had no evil in my intentions. I had never stolen anything in my life;
and if a goldsmith had left me in his shop, with heaps of money
strewed all round me, and bade me look after it, I should not have
touched it, I was so honest; but the subtle tempter baited his hook
for me, as I was a child, in a manner suited to my childishness, for I
never took this picking of pockets to be dishonesty, but, as I have
said above, I looked on it as a kind of trade that I was to be bred up
to, and so I entered upon it, till I became hardened in it beyond the
power of retreating. And thus I was made a thief involuntarily, and
went on a length that few boys do, without coming to the common period
of that kind of life--I mean to the transport-ship, or to the gallows.

The first day I went abroad with my new instructor, he carried me
directly into the city, and as we went first to the water-side, he led
me into the long-room at the custom-house. We were but a couple of
ragged boys at best, but I was much the worse. My leader had a hat on,
a shirt, and a neckcloth; as for me, I had neither of the three, nor
had I spoiled my manners so much as to have a hat on my head since my
nurse died, which was now some years. His orders to me were to keep
always in sight, and near him, but not close to him, nor to take any
notice of him at any time till he came to me; and if any hurly-burly
happened, I should by no means know him, or pretend to have anything
to do with him.

I observed my orders to a tittle. While he peered into every corner
and had his eye upon everybody, I kept my eye directly upon him, but
went always at a distance, and on the other side of the long-room,
looking as it were for pins, and picking them up out of the dust as I
could find them, and then sticking them on my sleeve, where I had at
last gotten forty or fifty good pins; but still my eye was upon my
comrade, who, I observed, was very busy among the crowds of people
that stood at the board doing business with the officers who pass the
entries and make the cockets, &c.

At length he comes over to me, and stooping as if he would take up a
pin close to me, he put some thing into my hand, and said, "Put that
up, and follow me downstairs quickly." He did not run, but shuffled
along apace through the crowd, and went down, not the great stairs
which we came in at, but a little narrow staircase at the other end of
the long-room. I followed, and he found I did, and so went on, not
stopping below, as I expected, nor speaking one word to me, till,
through innumerable narrow passages, alleys, and dark ways, we were
got up into Fenchurch Street, and through Billiter Lane into
Leadenhall Street, and from thence into Leadenhall Market.

It was not a meat-market day, so we had room to sit down upon one of
the butchers' stalls, and he bid me lug out. What he had given me was
a little leather letter-case, with a French almanac stuck in the
inside of it, and a great many papers in it of several kinds.

We looked them over, and found there was several valuable bills in it,
such as bills of exchange and other notes, things I did not
understand; but among the rest was a goldsmith's note, as he called
it, of one Sir Stephen Evans, for £300, payable to the bearer, and at
demand. Besides this, there was another note for £12, 10s., being a
goldsmith's bill too, but I forget the name. There was a bill or two
also written in French, which neither of us understood, but which, it
seems, were things of value, being called foreign bills accepted.

The rogue, my master, knew what belonged to the goldsmiths' bills well
enough, and I observed, when he read the bill of Sir Stephen, he said,
"This is too big for me to meddle with;" but when he came to the bill
£12, 10s., he said to me, "This will do. Come hither, Jacque;" so away
he runs to Lombard Street, and I after him, huddling the other papers
into the letter-case. As he went along he inquired the name out
immediately, and went directly to the shop, put on a good, grave
countenance, and had the money paid him without any stop or question
asked. I stood on the other side the way looking about the street, as
not at all concerned with anybody that way, but observed that when he
presented the bill he pulled out the letter-case, as if he had been a
merchant's boy, acquainted with business, and had other bills about
him.

They paid him the money in gold, and he made haste enough in telling
it over, and came away, passing by me, and going into Three King
Court, on the other side of the way; then we crossed back into
Clement's Lane, made the best of our way to Cole Harbour, at the
water-side, and got a sculler for a penny to carry us over the water
to St. Mary Overy's stairs, where we landed, and were safe enough.

Here he turns to me; "Colonel Jacque," says he, "I believe you are a
lucky boy; this is a good job. We'll go away to St. George's Fields
and share our booty." Away we went to the Fields, and sitting down in
the grass, far enough out of the path, he pulled out the money. "Look
here, Jacque," says he, "did you ever see the like before in your
life?" "No, never," says I; and added very innocently, "Must we have
it all?" "We have it!" says he, "who should have it?" "Why," says I,
"must the man have none of it again that lost it?" "He have it again!"
says he. "What d'ye mean by that?" "Nay, I don't know," says I. "Why,
you said just now you would let him have the t'other bill again, that
you said was too big for you."

He laughed at me. "You are but a little boy," says he, "that's true,
but I thought you had not been such a child neither;" so he mighty
gravely explained the thing to me thus: that the bill of Sir Stephen
Evans was a great bill for £300, "and if I," says he, "that am but a
poor lad, should venture to go for the money, they will presently say,
how should I come by such a bill, and that I certainly found it or
stole it; so they will stop me," says he, "and take it away from me,
and it may bring me into trouble for it too; so," says he, "I did say
it was too big for me to meddle with, and that I would let the man
have it again, if I could tell how. But for the money, Jacque, the
money that we have got, I warrant you he should have none of that.
Besides," says he, "whoever he be that has lost this letter-case, to
be sure, as soon as he missed it, he would run to the goldsmith and
give notice that if anybody came for the money they would be stopped;
but I am too old for him there," says he.

"Why," says I, "and what will you do with the bill? Will you throw it
away? If you do, somebody else will find it," says I, "and they will
go and take the money." "No, no," says he; "then they will be stopped
and examined, as I tell you I should be." I did not know well what all
this meant, so I talked no more about that; but we fell to handling
the money. As for me, I had never seen so much together in all my
life, nor did I know what in the world to do with it, and once or
twice I was a-going to bid him keep it for me, which would have been
done like a child indeed, for, to be sure, I had never heard a word
more of it, though nothing had befallen him.

However, as I happened to hold my tongue as to that part, he shared
the money very honestly with me; only at the end he told me, that
though it was true he promised me half, yet as it was the first time,
and I had done nothing but look on, so he thought it was very well if
I took a little less than he did; so he divided the money, which was
£12, 10s., into two exact parts, viz., £6, 5s. in each part; then he
took £1, 5s. from my part, and told me I should give him that for
hansel. "Well," says I, "take it, then, for I think you deserve it
all:" so, however, I took up the rest, and "What shall I do with this
now," says I, "for I have nowhere to put it?" "Why, have you no
pockets?" says he. "Yes," says I; "but they are full of holes." I have
often thought since that, and with some mirth too, how I had really
more wealth than I knew what to do with; for lodging I had none, nor
any box or drawer to hide my money in; nor had I any pocket, but such
as I say was full of holes. I knew nobody in the world that I could go
and desire them to lay it up for me; for, being a poor naked, ragged
boy, they would presently say I had robbed somebody, and perhaps lay
hold of me, and my money would be my crime, as they say it often is in
foreign countries. And now, as I was full of wealth, behold I was full
of care, for what to do to secure my money I could not tell; and this
held me so long, and was so vexatious to me the next day, that I truly
sat down and cried.

Nothing could be more perplexing than this money was to me all that
night. I carried it in my hand a good while, for it was in gold, all
but 14s.; and that is to say, it was in four guineas, and that 14s.
was more difficult to carry than the four guineas. At last I sat down
and pulled off one of my shoes, and put the four guineas into that;
but after I had gone a while, my shoe hurt me so I could not go, so I
was fain to sit down again and take it out of my shoe, and carry it in
my hand. Then I found a dirty linen rag in the street, and I took that
up and wrapped it all together, and carried it in that a good way. I
have often since heard people say, when they have been talking of
money that they could not get in, "I wish I had it in a foul clout;"
in truth, I had mine in a foul clout; for it was foul, according to
the letter of that saying, but it served me till I came to a
convenient place, and then I sat down and washed the cloth in the
kennel, and so then put my money in again.

Well, I carried it home with me to my lodging in the glass-house, and
when I went to go to sleep I knew not what to do with it. If I had let
any of the black crew I was with know of it, I should have been
smothered in the ashes for it, or robbed of it, or some trick or other
put upon me for it; so I knew not what to do, but lay with it in my
hand, and my hand in my bosom. But then sleep went from my eyes. Oh,
the weight of human care! I, a poor beggar-boy, could not sleep so
soon as I had but a little money to keep, who before that could have
slept upon a heap of brick-bats, or stones, or cinders, or anywhere,
as sound as a rich man does on his down bed, and sounder too.

Every now and then dropping asleep, I should dream that my money was
lost, and start like one frighted; then, finding it fast in my hand,
try to go to sleep again, but could not for a long while; then drop
and start again. At last a fancy came into my head that if I fell
asleep I should dream of the money, and talk of it in my sleep, and
tell that I had money, which if I should do, and one of the rogues
should hear me, they would pick it out of my bosom, and of my hand
too, without waking me; and after that thought I could not sleep a
wink more; so that I passed that night over in care and anxiety
enough; and this, I may safely say, was the first night's rest that I
lost by the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches.

As soon as it was day I got out of the hole we lay in, and rambled
abroad in the fields towards Stepney, and there I mused and considered
what I should do with this money, and many a time I wished that I had
not had it; for, after all my ruminating upon it, and what course I
should take with it, or where I should put it, I could not hit upon
any one thing, or any possible method to secure it, and it perplexed
me so that at last, as I said just now, I sat down and cried heartily.

When my crying was over the case was the same; I had the money still,
and what to do with it I could not tell. At last it came into my head
that I would look out for some hole in a tree, and seek to hide it
there till I should have occasion for it. Big was this discovery, as I
then thought it. I began to look about me for a tree; but there were
no trees in the fields about Stepney or Mile End that looked fit for
my purpose; and if there were any that I began to look narrowly at,
the fields were so full of people that they would see if I went to
hide any thing there; and I thought the people eyed me as it was, and
that two men in particular followed me to see what I intended to do.

This drove me farther off, and I crossed the road at Mile End, and in
the middle of the town went down a lane that goes away to the Blind
Beggar's at Bethnal Green. When I came a little way in the lane I
found a footpath over the fields, and in those fields several trees
for my turn, as I thought. At last one tree had a little hole in it,
pretty high out of my reach, and I climbed up the tree to get it, and
when I came there I put my hand in, and found (as I thought) a place
very fit, so I placed my treasure there, and was mighty well satisfied
with it; but, behold, putting my hand in again to lay it more
commodiously, as I thought, of a sudden it slipped away from me, and I
found the tree was hollow, and my little parcel was fallen in quite
out of my reach, and how far it might go in I knew not; so that, in a
word, my money was quite gone, irrecoverably lost. There could be no
room so much as to hope ever to see it again, for 'twas a vast great
tree.

As young as I was, I was now sensible what a fool I was before, that I
could not think of ways to keep my mpney, but I must come thus far to
throw it into a hole where I could not reach it. Well, I thrust my
hand quite up to my elbow, but no bottom was to be found, or any end
of the hole or cavity. I got a stick of the tree, and thrust it in a
great way, but all was one. Then I cried, nay, roared out, I was in
such a passion. Then I got down the tree again, then up again, and
thrust in my hand again till I scratched my arm and made it bleed, and
cried all the while most violently. Then I began to think I had not so
much as a halfpenny of it left for a halfpenny roll, and I was hungry,
and then I cried again. Then I came away in despair, crying and
roaring like a little boy that had been whipped; then I went back
again to the tree, and up the tree again, and thus I did several
times. The last time I had gotten up the tree I happened to come down
not on the same side that I went up and came down before, but on the
other side of the tree, and on the side of the bank also; and, behold,
the tree had a great open place in the side of it close to the ground,
as old hollow trees often have; and looking into the open place, to my
inexpressible joy, there lay my money and my linen rag, all wrapped up
just as I had put it into the hole; for the tree being hollow all the
way up, there had been some moss or light stuff, which I had not
judgment enough to know was not firm, and had given way when it came
to drop out of my hand, and so it had slipped quite down at once.

I was but a child, and I rejoiced like a child, for I halloed quite
out loud when I saw it; then I ran to it, and snatched it up, hugged
and kissed the dirty rag a hundred times; then danced and jumped
about, ran from one end of the field to the other, and, in short, I
knew not what; much less do I know now what I did, though I shall
never forget the thing, either what a sinking grief it was to my heart
when I thought I had lost it, or what a flood of joy overwhelmed me
when I had got it again.

While I was in the first transport of my joy, as I have said, I ran
about, and knew not what I did; but when that was over I sat down,
opened the foul clout the money was in, looked at it, told it, found
it was all there, and then I fell a-crying as savourly as I did
before, when I thought I had lost it.

It would tire the reader should I dwell on all the little boyish
tricks that I played in the ecstasy of my joy and satisfaction when I
had found my money; so I break off here. Joy is as extravagant as
grief, and since I have been a man I have often thought, that had such
a thing befallen a man, so to have lost all he had, and not have a bit
of bread to eat, and then so strangely to find it again, after having
given it so effectually over--I say, had it been so with a man, it
might have hazarded his using some violence upon himself.

Well, I came away with my money, and having taken sixpence out of it,
before I made it up again I went to a chandler's shop in Mile End and
bought a halfpenny roll and a halfpenny worth of cheese, and sat down
at the door after I bought it, and ate it very heartily, and begged
some beer to drink with it, which the good woman gave me very freely.

Away I went then for the town, to see if I could find any of my
companions, and resolved I would try no more hollow trees for my
treasure. As I came along Whitechapel I came by a broker's shop over
against the church, where they sold old clothes, for I had nothing on
but the worst of rags; so I stopped at the shop, and stood looking at
the clothes which hung at the door.

"Well, young gentleman," says a man that stood at the door, "you look
wishfully. Do you see any thing you like, and will your pocket compass
a good coat now, for you look as if you belonged to the ragged
regiment?" I was affronted at the fellow. "What's that to you," says
I, "how ragged I am? If I had seen anything I liked, I have money to
pay for it; but I can go where I shan't be huffed at for looking."

While I said thus pretty boldly to the fellow comes a woman out. "What
ails you," says she to the man, "to bully away our customers so? A
poor boy's money is as good as my Lord Mayor's. If poor people did not
buy old clothes, what would become of our business?" And then turning
to me, "Come hither, child," says she; "if thou hast a mind to
anything I have, you shan't be hectored by him. The boy is a pretty
boy, I assure you," says she to another woman that was by this time
come to her. "Ay," says the t'other, "so he is, a very well-looking
child, if he was clean and well dressed, and may be as good a
gentleman's son, for anything we know, as any of those that are well
dressed. Come, my dear," says she, "tell me what is it you would
have." She pleased me mightily to hear her talk of my being a
gentleman's son, and it brought former things to my mind; but when she
talked of my being not clean and in rags, then I cried.

She pressed me to tell her if I saw anything that I wanted. I told her
no, all the clothes I saw there were too big for me. "Come, child,"
says she, "I have two things here that will fit you, and I am sure you
want them both; that is, first, a little hat, and there," says she
(tossing it to me), "I'll give you that for nothing. And here is a
good warm pair of breeches; I dare say," says she, "they will fit you,
and they are very tight and good; and," says she, "if you should ever
come to have so much money that you don't know what to do with it,
here are excellent good pockets," says she, "and a little fob to put
your gold in, or your watch in, when you get it."

It struck me with a strange kind of joy that I should have a place to
put my money in, and need not go to hide it again in a hollow tree,
that I was ready to snatch the breeches out of her hands, and wondered
that I should be such a fool never to think of buying me a pair of
breeches before, that I might have a pocket to put my money in, and
not carry it about two days together in my hand, and in my shoes and I
knew not how; so, in a word, I gave her two shillings for the
breeches, and went over into the churchyard and put them on, put my
money into my new pockets, and was as pleased as a prince is with his
coach and six horses. I thanked the good woman too for the hat, and
told her I would come again when I got more money, and buy some other
things I wanted; and so I came away.

I was but a boy, 'tis true, but I thought myself a man, now I had got
a pocket to put my money in, and I went directly to find out my
companion by whose means I got it; but I was frighted out of my wits
when I heard that he was carried to Bridewell. I made no question but
it was for the letter-case, and that I should be carried there too;
and then my poor brother Captain Jacque's case came into my head, and
that I should be whipped there as cruelly as he was, and I was in such
a fright that I knew not what to do.

But in the afternoon I met him; he had been carried to Bridewell, it
seems, upon that very affair, but was got out again. The case was
thus: having had such good luck at the custom-house the day before, he
takes his walk thither again, and as he was in the long-room, gaping
and staring about him, a fellow lays hold of him, and calls to one of
the clerks that sat behind, "Here," says he, "is the same young rogue
that I told you I saw loitering about t'other day, when the gentleman
lost his letter-case and his goldsmiths' bills; I dare say it was he
that stole them." Immediately the whole crowd of people gathered about
the boy, and charged him point-blank; but he was too well used to such
things to be frighted into a confession of what he knew they could not
prove, for he had nothing about him belonging to it, nor had any money
but six pence and a few dirty farthings.

They threatened him, and pulled and hauled him, till they almost
pulled the clothes off his back, and the commissioners examined him;
but all was one; he would own nothing, but said he walked up through
the room, only to see the place, both then and the time before, for he
had owned he was there before; so, as there was no proof against him
of any fact, no, nor of any circumstances relating to the letter-case,
they were forced at last to let him go. However, they made a show of
carrying him to Bridewell, and they did carry him to the gate to see
if they could make him confess anything; but he would confess nothing,
and they had no mittimus; so they durst not carry him into the house;
nor would the people have received him, I suppose, if they had, they
having no warrant for putting him in prison.

Well, when they could get nothing out of him, they carried him into an
alehouse, and there they told him that the letter-case had bills in it
of a very great value; that they would be of no use to the rogue that
had them, but they would be of infinite damage to the gentleman that
had lost them; and that he had left word with the clerk, whom the man
that stopped this boy had called to, and who was there with him, that
he would give £30 to any one that would bring them again, and give all
the security that could be desired that he would give them no trouble,
whoever it was.

He was just come from out of their hands when I met with him, and so
he told me all the story. "But," says he, "I would confess nothing,
and so I got off, and am come away clear." "Well," says I, "and what
will you do with the letter-case and the bills? Will you not let the
poor man have his bills again?" "No, not I," says he; "I won't trust
them. What care I for their bills?" It came into my head, as young as
I was, that it was a sad thing indeed to take a man's bills away for
so much money, and not have any advantage by it neither; for I
concluded that the gentleman who owned the bills must lose all the
money, and it was strange he should keep the bills, and make a
gentleman lose so much money for nothing. I remember that I ruminated
very much about it, and though I did not understand it very well, yet
it lay upon my mind, and I said every now and then to him, "Do let the
gentleman have his bills again; do, pray do;" and so I teased him,
with "Do" and "Pray do," till at last I cried about them. He said,
"What, would you have me be found out and sent to Bridewell, and be
whipped, as your brother Captain Jacque was?" I said, "No, I would not
have you whipped, but I would have the man have his bills, for they
will do you no good, but the gentleman will be undone, it may be." And
then I added again, "Do let him have them." He snapped me short.
"Why," says he, "how shall I get them to him? Who dare carry them? I
dare not, to be sure, for they will stop me, and bring the goldsmith
to see if he does not know me, and that I received the money, and so
they will prove the robbery, and I shall be hanged. Would you have me
be hanged, Jacque?"

I was silenced a good while with that, for when he said, "Would you
have me be hanged, Jacque?" I had no more to say. But one day after
this he called to me. "Colonel Jacque," says he, "I have thought of a
way how the gentleman shall have his bills again; and you and I shall
get a good deal of money by it, if you will be honest to me, as I was
to you." "Indeed," says I, "Robin"--that was his name--"I will be very
honest; let me know how it is, for I would fain have him have his
bills."

"Why," says he, "they told me that he had left word at the clerk's
place in the long-room that he would give £30 to any one that had the
bills, and would restore them, and would ask no questions. Now, if you
will go, like a poor innocent boy, as you are, into the long-room and
speak to the clerk, it may do. Tell him if the gentleman will do as he
promised, you believe you can tell him who has it; and if they are
civil to you, and willing to be as good as their words, you shall have
the letter-case, and give it them."

I told him ay, I would go with all my heart. "But, Colonel Jacque,"
says he, "what if they should take hold of you and threaten to have
you whipped? Won't you discover me to them?" "No," says I; "if they
would whip me to death I won't." "Well, then," says he, "there's the
letter-case; do you go." So he gave me directions how to act and what
to say; but I would not take the letter-case with me, lest they should
prove false, and take hold of me, thinking to find it upon me, and so
charge me with the fact; so I left it with him. And the next morning I
went to the custom-house, as was agreed. What my directions were will,
to avoid repetition, appear in what happened; it was an errand of too
much consequence indeed to be entrusted to a boy, not only so young as
I was, but so little of a rogue as I was yet arrived to the degree of.

Two things I was particularly armed with, which I resolved upon: 1.
That the man should have his bills again; for it seemed a horrible
thing to me that he should be made to lose his money, which I supposed
he must, purely because we would not carry the letter-case home. 2.
That whatever happened to me, I was never to tell the name of my
comrade Robin, who had been the principal. With these two pieces of
honesty, for such they were both in themselves, and with a manly
heart, though a boy's head, I went up into the long-room in the
custom-house the next day.

As soon as I came to the place where the thing was done, I saw the man
sit just where he had sat before, and it ran in my head that he had
sat there ever since; but I knew no better; so I went up, and stood
just at that side of the writing-board that goes upon that side of the
room, and which I was but just tall enough to lay my arms upon.

While I stood there one thrust me this way, and another thrust me that
way, and the man that sat behind began to look at me. At last he
called out to me, "What does that boy do there? Get you gone, sirrah!
Are you one of the rogues that stole the gentleman's letter-case a
Monday last?" Then he turns his tale to a gentleman that was doing
business with him, and goes on thus: "Here was Mr. ---- had a very
unlucky chance on Monday last. Did not you hear of it?" "No, not I,"
says the gentleman. "Why, standing just there, where you do," says he,
"making his entries, he pulled out his letter-case, and laid it down,
as he says, but just at his hand, while he reached over to the
standish there for a penful of ink, and somebody stole away his
letter-case."

"His letter-case!" says t'other. "What, and was there any bills in
it?"

"Ay," says he, "there was Sir Stephen Evans's note in it for £300, and
another goldsmith's bill for about £12; and which is worse still for
the gentleman, he had two foreign accepted bills in it for a great
sum--I know not how much. I think one was a French bill for 1200
crowns."

"And who could it be?" says the gentleman.

"Nobody knows," says he; "but one of our room-keepers says he saw a
couple of young rogues like that," pointing at me, "hanging about
here, and that on a sudden they were both gone."

"Villains!" says he again. "Why, what can they do with them? They will
be of no use to them. I suppose he went immediately and gave notice to
prevent the payment."

"Yes," says the clerk, "he did; but the rogues were too nimble for him
with the little bill of £12 odd money; they went and got the money for
that, but all the rest are stopped. However, 'tis an unspeakable
damage to him for want of his money."

"Why, he should publish a reward for the encouragement of those that
have them to bring them again; they would be glad to bring them, I
warrant you."

"He has posted it up at the door that he will give £30 for them."

"Ay; but he should add that he will promise not to stop or give any
trouble to the person that brings them."

"He has done that too," says he; "but I fear they won't trust
themselves to be honest, for fear he should break his word."

"Why? It is true he may break his word in that case, but no man should
do so; for then no rogue will venture to bring home anything that is
stolen, and so he would do an injury to others after him."

"I durst pawn my life for him, he would scorn it."

Thus far they discoursed of it, and then went off to something else. I
heard it all, but did not know what to do a great while; but at last,
watching the gentleman that went away, when he was gone I ran after
him to have spoken to him, intending to have broke it to him, but he
went hastily into a room or two full of people at the hither end of
the long-room; and when I went to follow, the doorkeepers turned me
back, and told me I must not go in there; so I went back, and loitered
about near the man that sat behind the board, and hung about there
till I found the clock struck twelve, and the room began to be thin of
people; and at last he sat there writing, but nobody stood at the
board before him, as there had all the rest of the morning. Then I
came a little nearer, and stood close to the board, as I did before;
when, looking up from his paper, and seeing me, says he to me, "You
have been up and down here all this morning, sirrah! What do you want?
You have some business that is not very good, I doubt."

"No, I han't," said I.

"No? It is well if you han't," says he. "Pray, what business can you
have in the long-room, sir? You are no merchant."

"I would speak with you," said I.

"With me!" says he. "What have you to say to me?"

"I have something to say," said I, "if you will do me no harm for it."

"I do thee harm, child! What harm should I do thee?" and spoke very
kindly.

"Won't you indeed, sir?" said I.

"No, not I, child; I'll do thee no harm. What is it? Do you know
anything of the gentleman's letter-case?"

I answered, but spoke softly that he could not hear me; so he gets
over presently into the seat next him, and opens a place that was made
to come out, and bade me come in to him; and I did.

Then he asked me again if I knew anything of the letter-case.

I spoke softly again, and said folks would hear him.

Then he whispered softly, and asked me again.

I told him I believed I did, but that, indeed, I had it not, nor had
no hand in stealing it, but it was gotten into the hands of a boy that
would have burned it, if it had not been for me; and that I heard him
say that the gentleman would be glad to have them again, and give a
good deal of money for them.

"I did say so, child," said he; "and if you can get them for him, he
shall give you a good reward, no less than £30, as he has promised."

"But you said too, sir, to the gentleman just now," said I, "that you
was sure he would not bring them into any harm that should bring
them."

"No, you shall come to no harm. I will pass my word for it."

_Boy_. Nor shan't they make me bring other people into trouble?

_Gent_. No; you shall not be asked the name of anybody, nor to tell
who they are.

_Boy_. I am but a poor boy, and I would fain have the gentleman have
his bills; and indeed I did not take them away, nor I han't got them.

_Gent_. But can you tell how the gentleman shall have them?

_Boy_. If I can get them, I will bring them to you to-morrow morning.

_Gent_. Can you not do it to-night?

_Boy_. I believe I may if I knew where to come.

_Gent_. Come to my house, child.

_Boy_. I don't know where you live.

_Gent_. Go along with me now, and you shall see.

So he carried me up into Tower Street, and showed me his house, and
ordered me to come there at five o'clock at night; which accordingly I
did, and carried the letter-case with me.

When I came the gentleman asked me if I had brought the book, as he
called it.

"It is not a book," said I.

"No, the letter-case; that's all one," says he.

"You promised me," said I, "you would not hurt me," and cried.

"Don't be afraid, child," says he. "I will not hurt thee, poor boy;
nobody shall hurt thee."

"Here it is," said I, and pulled it out.

He then brought in another gentleman, who, it seems, owned the
letter-case, and asked him if that was it, and he said, "Yes."

Then he asked me if all the bills were in it.

I told him I heard him say there was one gone, but I believed there
was all the rest.

"Why do you believe so?" says he.

"Because I heard the boy that I believe stole them say they were too
big for him to meddle with."

The gentleman then that owned them said, "Where is the boy?"

Then the other gentleman put in, and said, "No, you must not ask him
that; I passed my word that you should not, and that he should not be
obliged to tell it to anybody."

"Well, child," says he, "you will let us see the letter-case opened,
and whether the bills are in it?"

"Yes," says I.

Then the first gentleman said, "How many bills were there in it?"

"Only three," says he. "Besides the bill of £12, 10s., there was Sir
Stephen Evans's note for £300 and two foreign bills."

"Well, then, if they are in the letter-case, the boy shall have £30,
shall he not?" "Yes," says the gentleman; "he shall have it very
freely."

"Come, then, child," says he, "let me open it."

So I gave it him, and he opened it, and there were all three bills,
and several other papers, fair and safe, nothing defaced or
diminished; and the gentleman said, "All is right."

Then said the first man, "Then I am security to the poor boy for the
money." "Well, but," says the gentleman, "the rogues have got the £12,
10s.; they ought to reckon that as part of the £30." Had he asked me,
I should have consented to it at first word; but the first man stood
my friend. "Nay," says he, "it was since you knew that the £12, 10s.
was received that you offered £30 for the other bills, and published
it by the crier, and posted it up at the custom-house door, and I
promised him the £30 this morning." They argued long, and I thought
would have quarrelled about it.

However, at last they both yielded a little, and the gentleman gave me
£25 in good guineas. When he gave it me he bade me hold out my hand,
and he told the money into my hand; and when he had done he asked me
if it was right. I said I did not know, but I believed it was. "Why,"
says he, "can't you tell it?" I told him no; I never saw so much money
in my life, nor I did not know how to tell money. "Why," says he,
"don't you know that they are guineas?" No, I told him, I did not know
how much a guinea was.

"Why, then," says he, "did you tell me you believed it was right?" I
told him, because I believed he would not give it me wrong.

"Poor child," says he, "thou knowest little of the world, indeed. What
art thou?"

"I am a poor boy," says I, and cried.

"What is your name?" says he. "But hold, I forgot," said he; "I
promised I would not ask your name, so you need not tell me."

"My name is Jacque," said I.

"Why, have you no surname?" said he.

"What is that?" said I.

"You have some other name besides Jacque," says he, "han't you?"

"Yes," says I; "they call me Colonel Jacque."

"But have you no other name?"

"No," said I.

"How came you to be Colonel Jacque, pray?"

"They say," said I, "my father's name was Colonel."

"Is your father or mother alive?" said he.

"No," said I; "my father is dead."

"Where is your mother, then?" said he.

"I never had e'er a mother," said I.

This made him laugh. "What," said he, "had you never a mother? What,
then?"

"I had a nurse," said I; "but she was not my mother."

"Well," says he to the gentleman, "I dare say this boy was not the
thief that stole your bills."

"Indeed, sir, I did not steal them," said I, and cried again.

"No, no, child," said he, "we don't believe you did. This is a very
clever boy," says he to the other gentleman, "and yet very ignorant
and honest; 'tis pity some care should not be taken of him, and
something done for him. Let us talk a little more with him." So they
sat down and drank wine, and gave me some, and then the first
gentleman talked to me again.

"Well," says he, "what wilt thou do with this money now thou hast it?"

"I don't know," said I.

"Where will you put it?" said he,

"In my pocket," said I.

"In your pocket!" said he. "Is your pocket whole? Shan't you lose it?"

"Yes," said I, "my pocket is whole."

"And where will you put it when you get home?"

"I have no home," said I, and cried again.

"Poor child!" said he. "Then what dost thou do for thy living?"

"I go of errands," said I, "for the folks in Rosemary Lane."

"And what dost thou do for a lodging at night?"

"I lie at the glass-house," said I, "at night."

"How, lie at the glass-house! Have they any beds there?" says he.

"I never lay in a bed in my life," said I, "as I remember."

"Why," says he, "what do you lie on at the glass-house?"

"The ground," says I; "and sometimes a little straw, or upon the warm
ashes."

Here the gentleman that lost the bills said, "This poor child is
enough to make a man weep for the miseries of human nature, and be
thankful for himself; he puts tears into my eyes." "And into mine
too," says the other.

"Well, but hark ye, Jacque," says the first gentleman, "do they give
you no money when they send you of errands?"

"They give me victuals," said I, "and that's better."

"But what," says he, "do you do for clothes?"

"They give me sometimes old things," said I, "such as they have to
spare."

"Why, you have never a shirt on, I believe," said he, "have you?"

"No; I never had a shirt," said I, "since my nurse died."

"How long ago is that?" said he.

"Six winters, when this is out," said I.

"Why, how old are you?" said he.

"I can't tell," said I.

"Well," says the gentleman, "now you have this money, won't you buy
some clothes and a shirt with some of it?"

"Yes," said I, "I would buy some clothes."

"And what will you do with the rest?"

"I can't tell," said I, and cried.

"What dost cry for, Jacque?" said he.

"I am afraid," said I, and cried still.

"What art afraid of?"

"They will know I have money."

"Well, and what then?"

"Then I must sleep no more in the warm glass house, and I shall be
starved with cold. They will take away my money."

"But why must you sleep there no more?"

Here the gentlemen observed to one another how naturally anxiety and
perplexity attend those that have money. "I warrant you," says the
clerk, "when this poor boy had no money he slept all night in the
straw, or on the warm ashes in the glass-house, as soundly and as void
of care as it would be possible for any creature to do; but now, as
soon as he has gotten money, the care of preserving it brings tears
into his eyes and fear into his heart."

They asked me a great many questions more, to which I answered in my
childish way as well as I could, but so as pleased them well enough.
At last I was going away with a heavy pocket, and I assure you not a
light heart, for I was so frighted with having so much money that I
knew not what in the earth to do with myself. I went away, however,
and walked a little way, but I could not tell what to do; so, after
rambling two hours or thereabout, I went back again, and sat down at
the gentleman's door, and there I cried as long as I had any moisture
in my head to make tears of, but never knocked at the door.

I had not sat long, I suppose, but somebody belonging to the family
got knowledge of it, and a maid came and talked to me, but I said
little to her, only cried still. At length it came to the gentleman's
ears. As for the merchant, he was gone. When the gentleman heard of me
he called me in, and began to talk with me again, and asked me what I
stayed for.

I told him I had not stayed there all that while, for I had been gone
a great while, and was come again.

"Well," says he, "but what did you come again for?"

"I can't tell," says I.

"And what do you cry so for?" said he. "I hope you have not lost your
money, have you?"

No, I told him, I had not lost it yet, but was afraid I should.

"And does that make you cry?" says he.

I told him yes, for I knew I should not be able to keep it, but they
would cheat me of it, or they would kill me and take it away from me
too.

"They?" says he. "Who? What sort of gangs of people art thou with?"

I told him they were all boys, but very wicked boys; "thieves and
pickpockets," said I, "such as stole this letter-case--a sad pack; I
can't abide them."

"Well, Jacque," said he, "what shall be done for thee? Will you leave
it with me? Shall I keep it for you?"

"Yes," said I, "with all my heart, if you please."

"Come, then," says he, "give it me; and that you may be sure that I
have it, and you shall have it honestly again, I'll give you a bill
for it, and for the interest of it, and that you may keep safe enough.
Nay," added he, "and if you lose it, or anybody takes it from you,
none shall receive the money but your self, or any part of it."

I presently pulled out all the money, and gave it to him, only keeping
about 15s. for myself to buy some clothes; and thus ended the
conference between us on the first occasion, at least for the first
time. Having thus secured my money to my full satisfaction, I was then
perfectly easy, and accordingly the sad thoughts that afflicted my
mind before began to vanish away.

This was enough to let any one see how all the sorrows and anxieties
of men's lives come about; how they rise from their restless pushing
at getting of money, and the restless cares of keeping it when they
have got it. I that had nothing, and had not known what it was to have
had anything, knew nothing of the care, either of getting or of
keeping it; I wanted nothing, who wanted everything; I had no care, no
concern about where I should get my victuals or how I should lodge; I
knew not what money was, or what to do with it; and never knew what it
was not to sleep till I had money to keep, and was afraid of losing
it.

I had, without doubt, an opportunity at this time, if I had not been
too foolish, and too much a child to speak for myself--I had an
opportunity, I say, to have got into the service, or perhaps to be
under some of the care and concern, of these gentlemen; for they
seemed to be very fond of doing some thing for me, and were surprised
at the innocence of my talk to them, as well as at the misery (as they
thought it) of my condition.

But I acted indeed like a child; and leaving my money, as I have said,
I never went near them for several years after. What course I took,
and what befell me in that interval, has so much variety in it, and
carries so much instruction in it, that it requires an account of it
by itself.

The first happy chance that offered itself to me in the world was now
over. I had got money, but I neither knew the value of it or the use
of it; the way of living I had begun was so natural to me, I had no
notion of bettering it; I had not so much as any desire of buying me
any clothes--no, not so much as a shirt; and much less had I any
thought of getting any other lodging than in the glass-house, and
loitering about the streets, as I had done; for I knew no good, and
had tasted no evil; that is to say, the life I had led being not evil
in my account.

In this state of ignorance I returned to my really miserable life; so
it was in itself, and was only not so to me because I did not
understand how to judge of it, and had known no better.

My comrade that gave me back the bills, and who, if I had not pressed
him, designed never to have restored them, never asked me what I had
given me, but told me if they gave me anything it should be my own;
for, as he said he would not run the venture of being seen in the
restoring them, I deserved the reward if there was any; neither did he
trouble his head with inquiring what I had, or whether I had anything
or no; so my title to what I had got was clear.

I went now up and down just as I did before. I had money indeed in my
pocket, but I let nobody know it. I went of errands cheerfully as
before, and accepted of what anybody gave me with as much thankfulness
as ever. The only difference that I made with myself was, that if I
was hungry, and nobody employed me, or gave me anything to eat, I
did not beg from door to door, as I did at first, but went to a
boiling-house, as I said once before, and got a mess of broth and a
piece of bread, price a halfpenny; very seldom any meat; or if I
treated myself, it was a halfpennyworth of cheese; all which expense
did not amount to above twopence or three pence a week; for, contrary
to the usage of the rest of the tribe, I was extremely frugal, and I
had not disposed of any of the guineas which I had at first; neither,
as I said to the custom-house gentleman, could I tell what a guinea
was made of, or what it was worth.

After I had been about a month thus, and had done nothing, my comrade,
as I called him, came to me one morning. "Colonel Jacque," says he,
"when shall you and I take a walk again?" "When you will," said I.
"Have you got no business yet?" says he. "No," says I; and so one
thing bringing on another, he told me I was a fortunate wretch, and he
believed I would be so again, but that he must make a new bargain with
me now; "for," says he, "colonel, the first time we always let a raw
brother come in for full share to encourage him; but afterwards,
except it be when he puts himself forward well and runs equal hazard,
he stands to courtesy; but as we are gentlemen, we always do very
honourably by one another; and if you are willing to trust it or leave
it to me, I shall do handsomely by you, that you may depend upon." I
told him I was not able to do anything, that was certain, for I did
not understand it, and therefore I could not expect to get anything,
but I would do as he bade me; so we walked abroad together.

We went no more to the custom-house; it was too bold a venture.
Besides, I did not care to show myself again, especially with him in
company. But we went directly to the Exchange, and we hankered about
in Castle Alley, and in Swithin's Alley, and at the coffee-house
doors. It was a very unlucky day, for we got nothing all day but two
or three handkerchiefs, and came home to the old lodgings at the
glass-house; nor had I had anything to eat or drink all day but a
piece of bread which he gave me, and some water at the conduit at the
Exchange Gate. So when he was gone from me, for he did not lie in the
glass-house, as I did, I went to my old broth-house for my usual bait,
and refreshed myself, and the next day early went to meet him again,
as he appointed me.

Being early in the morning, he took his walk to Billingsgate, where it
seems two sorts of people make a great crowd as soon as it is light,
and at that time a-year rather before daylight; that is to say, crimps
and the masters of coal-ships, whom they call collier-masters; and,
secondly, fishmongers, fish-sellers, and buyers of fish.

It was the first of these people that he had his eye upon. So he gives
me my orders, which was thus: "Go you," says he, "into all the
alehouses as we go along, and observe where any people are telling of
money; and when you find any, come and tell me." So he stood at the
door, and I went into the houses. As the collier-masters generally
sell their coals at the gate, as they call it, so they generally
receive their money in those alehouses; and it was not long before I
brought him word of several. Upon this he went in and made his
observations, but found nothing to his purpose. At length I brought
him word that there was a man in such a house who had received a great
deal of money of somebody, I believed of several people, and that it
lay all upon the table in heaps, and he was very busy writing down the
sums and putting it up in several bags. "Is he?" says he; "I'll
warrant him I will have some of it;" and in he goes. He walks up and
down the house, which had several open tables and boxes in it, and he
listened to hear, if he could, what the man's name was; and he heard
somebody call him Cullum, or some such name. Then he watches his
opportunity, and steps up to him, and tells him a long story, that
there was two gentlemen at the Gun tavern sent him to inquire for him,
and to tell him they desired to speak with him.

The collier-master had his money lay before him, just as I had told
him, and had two or three small payments of money, which he had put up
in little black dirty bags, and lay by themselves; and as it was
hardly broad day, he found means in delivering his message to lay his
hands upon one of those bags, and carry it off perfectly undiscovered.

When we had got it he came out to me, who stood but at the door, and
pulling me by the sleeve, "Run, Jacque," says he, "for our lives;" and
away he scours, and I after him, never resting, or scarce looking
about me, till we got quite up into Fenchurch Street, through Lime
Street into Leadenhall Street, down St. Mary Axe to London Wall, then
through Bishopsgate Street and down Old Bedlam into Moorfields. By
this time we were neither of us able to run very fast; nor need we
have gone so far, for I never found that anybody pursued us. When we
got into Moorfields and began to take breath, I asked him what it was
frighted him so. "Fright me, you fool!" says he; "I have got a
devilish great bag of money." "A bag!" said I. "Ay, ay," said he; "let
us get out into the fields where nobody can see us, and I'll show it
you." So away he had me through Long Alley, and cross Hog Lane and
Holloway Lane, into the middle of the great field, which since that
has been called the Farthing Pie-House Fields. There we would have sat
down, but it was all full of water; so we went on, crossed the road at
Anniseed Cleer, and went into the field where now the great hospital
stands; and finding a by-place, we sat down, and he pulls out the bag.
"Thou art a lucky boy, Jacque," says he; "thou deservest a good share
of this job, truly; for it is all along of thy lucky news." So he
pours it all out into my hat; for, as I told you, I now wore a hat.

How he did to whip away such a bag of money from any man that was
awake and in his senses I cannot tell; but there was a great deal in
it, and among it a paperful by itself. When the paper dropped out of
the bag, "Hold," says he, "that is gold!" and began to crow and hollow
like a mad boy. But there he was baulked; for it was a paper of old
thirteenpence-halfpenny pieces, half and quarter pieces, with
ninepences and fourpence-halfpennies--all old crooked money, Scotch
and Irish coin; so he was disappointed in that. But as it was there
was about £17 or £18 in the bag, as I understood by him; for I could
not tell money, not I.

Well, he parted this money into three; that is to say, into three
shares--two for himself and one for me, and asked if I was content. I
told him yes, I had reason to be contented. Besides, it was so much
money added to that I had left of his former adventure that I knew not
what to do with it, or with myself, while I had so much about me.

This was a most exquisite fellow for a thief; for he had the greatest
dexterity at conveying anything away that he scarce ever pitched upon
anything in his eye but he carried it off with his hands, and never
that I know of missed his aim or was caught in the fact.

He was an eminent pickpocket, and very dexterous at ladies' gold
watches; but he generally pushed higher at such desperate things as
these; and he came off the cleanest and with the greatest success
imaginable; and it was in these kinds of the wicked art of thieving
that I became his scholar.

As we were now so rich, he would not let me lie any longer in the
glass-house, or go naked and ragged as I had done, but obliged me to
buy two shirts, a waistcoat, and a greatcoat; for a greatcoat was more
for our purpose in the business we was upon than any other. So I
clothed myself as he directed, and he took me a lodging in the same
house with him, and we lodged together in a little garret fit for our
quality.

Soon after this we walked out again, and then we tried our fortune in
the places by the Exchange a second time. Here we began to act
separately, and I undertook to walk by myself; and the first thing I
did accurately was a trick I played that argued some skill for a new
beginner; for I had never seen any business of that kind done before.
I saw two gentlemen mighty eager in talk, and one pulled out a
pocket-book two or three times, and then slipt it into his coat-pocket
again, and then out it came again, and papers were taken out and
others were put in; and then in it went again, and so several times;
the man being still warmly engaged with another man, and two or three
others standing hard by them. The last time he put his pocket-book
into his pocket, he might be said to throw it in rather than put it in
with his hand, and the book lay end-way, resting upon some other book
or something else in his pocket; so that it did not go quite down, but
one corner of it was seen above his pocket.

This careless way of men putting their pocket-books into a
coat-pocket, which is so easily dived into by the least boy that has
been used to the trade, can never be too much blamed. The gentlemen
are in great hurries, their heads and thoughts entirely taken up, and
it is impossible they should be guarded enough against such little
hawk's-eyed creatures as we were; and, therefore, they ought either
never to put their pocket-books up at all, or to put them up more
secure, or to put nothing of value into them. I happened to be just
opposite to this gentleman in that they call Swithin's Alley, or that
alley rather which is between Swithin's Alley and the Exchange, just
by a passage that goes out of the alley into the Exchange, when,
seeing the book pass and repass into the pocket and out of the pocket
as above, it came immediately into my head, certainly I might get that
pocket-book out if I were nimble, and I warrant Will would have it, if
he saw it go and come to and again as I did. But when I saw it hang by
the way, as I have said, "Now it is mine," said I to myself, and,
crossing the alley, I brushed smoothly but closely by the man, with my
hand down flat to my own side, and, taking hold of it by the corner
that appeared, the book came so light into my hand, it was impossible
the gentleman should feel the least motion, or anybody else see me
take it away. I went directly forward into the broad place on the
north side of the Exchange, then scoured down Bartholomew Lane, so
into Tokenhouse Yard, into the alleys which pass through from thence
to London Wall, so through Moorgate, and sat down on the grass in the
second of the quarters of Moorfields, towards the middle field; which
was the place that Will and I had appointed to meet at if either of us
got any booty. When I came thither Will was not come; but I saw him
coming in about half-an-hour.

As soon as Will came to me I asked him what booty he had gotten. He
looked pale, and, as I thought, frighted; but he returned, "I have got
nothing, not I; but, you lucky young dog," says he, "what have you
got? Have not you got the gentleman's pocket-book in Swithin's Alley?"
"Yes," says I, and laughed at him; "why, how did you know it?" "Know
it!" says he. "Why, the gentleman is raving and half distracted; he
stamps and cries and tears his very clothes. He says he is utterly
undone and ruined, and the folks in the alley say there is I know not
how many thousand pounds in it. What can be in it?" says Will. "Come,
let us see."

Well, we lay close in the grass in the middle of the quarter, so that
nobody minded us; and so we opened the pocket-book, and there was a
great many bills and notes under men's hands; some goldsmiths', and
some belonging to insurance offices, as they call them, and the like.
But that which was, it seems, worth all the rest was that, in one of
the folds of the cover of the book, where there was a case with
several partitions, there was a paper full of loose diamonds. The man,
as we understood afterward, was a Jew, who dealt in such goods, and
who indeed ought to have taken more care of the keeping of them.

Now was this booty too great, even for Will himself, to manage; for
though by this time I was come to understand things better than I did
formerly, when I knew not what belonged to money, yet Will was better
skilled by far in those things than I. But this puzzled him too, as
well as me. Now were we something like the cock in the fable; for all
these bills, and I think there was one bill of Sir Henry Furness's for
£1200, and all these diamonds, which were worth about £150, as they
said--I say, all these things were of no value to us: one little purse
of gold would have been better to us than all of it. "But come," says
Will, "let us look over the bills for a little one."

We looked over all the bills, and among them we found a bill under a
man's hand for £32. "Come," says Will, "let us go and inquire where
this man lives." So he went into the City again, and Will went to the
post-house, and asked there. They told him he lived at Temple Bar.
"Well," says Will, "I will venture. I'll go and receive the money; it
may be he has not remembered to send to stop the payment there."

But it came into his thoughts to take another course. "Come," says
Will, "I'll go back to the alley, and see if I can hear anything of
what has happened, for I believe the hurry is not over yet." It seems
the man who lost the book was carried into the King's Head tavern at
the end of that alley, and a great crowd was about the door.

Away goes Will, and watches and waits about the place; and then,
seeing several people together, for they were not all dispersed, he
asks one or two what was the matter. They tell him a long story of a
gentleman who had lost his pocket-book, with a great bag of diamonds
in it, and bills for a great many thousand pounds, and I know not
what; and that they had been just crying it, and had offered £100
reward to any one who would discover and restore it.

"I wish," said he to one of them that parleyed with him, "I did but
know who has it; I don't doubt but I could help him to it again. Does
he remember nothing of anybody, boy or fellow, that was near him? If
he could but describe him, it might do." Somebody that overheard him
was so forward to assist the poor gentleman that they went up and let
him know what a young fellow, meaning Will, had been talking at the
door; and down comes another gentleman from him, and, taking Will
aside, asked him what he had said about it. Will was a grave sort of a
young man, that, though he was an old soldier at the trade, had yet
nothing of it in his countenance; and he answered that he was
concerned in business where a great many of the gangs of little
pickpockets haunted, and if he had but the least description of the
person they suspected, he durst say he could find him out, and might
perhaps get the things again for him. Upon this he desired him to go
up with him to the gentleman, which he did accordingly; and there, he
said, he sat leaning his head back to the chair, pale as a cloth,
disconsolate to a strange degree, and, as Will described him, just
like one under a sentence.

When they came to ask him whether he had seen no boy or shabby fellow
lurking near where he stood, or passing, or repassing, and the like,
he answered, "No, not any." Neither could he remember that anybody had
come near him. "Then," said Will, "it will be very hard, if not
impossible, to find them out. However," said Will, "if you think it
worth while, I will put myself among those rogues, though," says he,
"I care not for being seen among them. But I will put in among them,
and if it be in any of those gangs, it is ten to one but I shall hear
something of it."

They asked him then if he had heard what terms the gentleman had
offered to have it restored; he answered, "No" (though he had been
told at the door). They answered, he had offered £100. "That is too
much," says Will; "but if you please to leave it to me, I shall either
get it for you for less than that, or not be able to get it for you at
all." Then the losing gentleman said to one of the other, "Tell him
that if he can get it lower, the overplus shall be to himself."
William said he would be very glad to do the gentleman such a service,
and would leave the reward to himself. "Well, young man," says one of
the gentlemen, "whatever you appoint to the young artist that has done
this roguery (for I warrant he is an artist, let it be who it will),
he shall be paid, if it be within the £100, and the gentleman is
willing to give you £50 besides for your pains."

"Truly, sir," says Will very gravely, "it was by mere chance that,
coming by the door, and seeing the crowd, I asked what the matter was.
But if I should be instrumental to get the unfortunate gentleman his
pocket-book and the things in it again, I shall be very glad; nor am I
so rich neither, sir, but £50 is very well worth my while too." Then
he took directions who to come to, and who to give his account to if
he learned anything, and the like.

Will stayed so long that, as he and I agreed, I went home, and he did
not come to me till night; for we had considered before that it would
not be proper to come from them directly to me, lest they should
follow him and apprehend me. If he had made no advances towards a
treaty, he would have come back in half-an-hour, as we agreed; but
staying late, we met at our night rendezvous, which was in Rosemary
Lane.

When he came he gave an account of all the discourse, and particularly
what a consternation the gentleman was in who lost the pocket-book,
and that he did not doubt but we should get a good round sum for the
recovery of it.

We consulted all the evening about it, and concluded he should let
them hear nothing of them the next day at all; and that the third day
he should go, but should make no discovery; only that he had got a
scent of it, and that he believed he should have it, and make it
appear as difficult as possible, and to start as many objections as he
could. Accordingly, the third day after he met with the gentleman,
who, he found, had been uneasy at his long stay, and told him they
were afraid that he only flattered them to get from them, and that
they had been too easy in letting him go without a further
examination.

He took upon him to be very grave with them, and told them that if
that was what he was like to have for being so free as to tell them he
thought he might serve them, they might see that they had wronged him,
and were mistaken by his coming again to them; that if they thought
they could do any thing by examining him, they might go about it, if
they pleased, now; that all he had to say to them was, that he knew
where some of the young rogues haunted who were famous for such
things; and that by some inquiries, offering them money, and the like,
he believed they would be brought to betray one another, and that so
he might pick it out for them; and this he would say before a justice
of peace, if they thought fit; and then all that he had to say further
to them was to tell them he had lost a day or two in their service,
and had got nothing but to be suspected for his pains, and that after
that he had done, and they might seek their goods where they could
find them.

They began to listen a little upon that, and asked him if he could
give them any hopes of recovering their loss. He told them that he was
not afraid to tell them that he believed he had heard some news of
them, and that what he had done had prevented all the bills being
burnt, book and all; but that now he ought not to be asked any more
questions till they should be pleased to answer him a question or two.
They told him they would give him any satisfaction they could, and bid
him tell what he desired.

"Why, sir," says he, "how can you expect any thief that had robbed you
to such a considerable value as this would come and put himself into
your hands, confess he had your goods, and restore them to you, if you
do not give them assurance that you will not only give them the reward
you agreed to, but also give assurance that they shall not be stopped,
questioned, or called to account before a magistrate?"

They said they would give all possible assurance of it. "Nay," says
he, "I do not know what assurance you are able to give; for when a
poor fellow is in your clutches and has shown you your goods, you may
seize upon him for a thief, and it is plain he must be so. Then you
go, take away your goods, send him to prison, and what amends can he
have of you afterward?"

They were entirely confounded with the difficulty; they asked him to
try if he could get the things into his hands, and they would pay him
the money before he let them go out of his hand, and he should go away
half-an-hour before they went out of the room.

"No, gentlemen," says he, "that won't do now. If you had talked so
before you had talked of apprehending me for nothing, I should have
taken your words; but now it is plain you have had such a thought in
your heads, and how can I, or any one else, be assured of safety?"

Well, they thought of a great many particulars, but nothing would do.
At length the other people who were present put in, that they should
give security to him, by a bond of £1000, that they would not give the
person any trouble whatsoever. He pretended they could not be bound,
nor could their obligation be of any value, and that their own goods
being once seen, they might seize them. "And what would it signify,"
said he, "to put a poor pick pocket to sue for his reward?" They could
not tell what to say, but told him that he should take the things of
the boy, if it was a boy, and they would be bound to pay him the money
promised. He laughed at them, and said, "No, gentlemen; as I am not
the thief, so I shall be very loth to put myself in the thief's stead
and lie at your mercy."

They told him they knew not what to do then, and that it would be very
hard he would not trust them at all. He said he was very willing to
trust them and to serve them, but that it would be very hard to be
ruined and charged with the theft for endeavouring to serve them.

They then offered to give it him under their hands that they did not
in the least suspect him; that they would never charge him with
anything about it; that they acknowledged he went about to inquire
after the goods at their request; and that if he produced them, they
would pay him so much money, at or before the delivery of them,
without obliging him to name or produce that person he had them from.

Upon this writing, signed by three gentlemen who were present, and by
the person in particular who lost the things, the young gentleman told
them he would go and do his utmost to get the pocket-book and all that
was in it.

Then he desired that they would in writing, beforehand, give him a
particular of all the several things that were in the book, that he
might not have it said, when he produced it, that there was not all;
and he would have the said writing sealed up, and he would make the
book be sealed up when it was given to him. This they agreed to; and
the gentleman accordingly drew up a particular of all the bills that
he remembered, as he said, was in the book, and also of the diamonds,
as follows:--

One bill under Sir Henry Furness's hand for £1200.

One bill under Sir Charles Duncomb's hand for £800, £250 endorsed off
= £550.

One bill under the hand of J. Tassel, goldsmith, £165.

One bill of Sir Francis Child, £39.

One bill of one Stewart, that kept a wager-office and insurance, £350.

A paper containing thirty-seven loose diamonds, value about £250.

A little paper containing three large rough diamonds, and one large
one polished and cut, value £185.

For all these things they promised, first, to give him whatever he
agreed with the thief to give him, not exceeding £50, and to give him
£50 more for himself for procuring them.

Now he had his cue, and now he came to me, and told me honestly the
whole story as above. So I delivered him the book, and he told me that
he thought it was reasonable we should not take the full sum, because
he would seem to have done them some service, and so make them the
easier. All this I agreed to; so he went the next day to the place,
and the gentlemen met him very punctually.

He told them at the first word he had done their work, and, as he
hoped, to their mind; and told them, if it had not been for the
diamonds, he could have got all for £10; but that the diamonds had
shone so bright in the boy's imagination that he talked of running
away to France or Holland, and living there all his days like a
gentleman; at which they laughed. "However, gentlemen," said he, "here
is the book;" and so pulled it out, wrapt up in a dirty piece of a
coloured handkerchief, as black as the street could make it, and
sealed with a piece of sorry wax, and the impression of a farthing for
a seal.

Upon this, the note being also unsealed, at the same time he pulled
open the dirty rag, and showed the gentleman his pocket-book; at which
he was so over-surprised with joy, notwithstanding all the preparatory
discourse, that he was fain to call for a glass of wine or brandy to
drink, to keep him from fainting.

The book being opened, the paper of diamonds was first taken out, and
there they were every one; only the little paper was by itself; and
the rough diamonds that were in it were loose among the rest, but he
owned they were all there safe.

Then the bills were called over one by one, and they found one bill
for £80 more than the account mentioned, besides several papers which
were not for money, though of consequence to the gentleman; and he
acknowledged that all was very honestly returned. "And now, young
man," said they, "you shall see we will deal as honestly by you;" and
so, in the first place, they gave him £50 for himself, and then they
told out the £50 for me.

He took the £50 for himself, and put it up in his pocket, wrapping it
in paper, it being all in gold; then he began to tell over the other
£50. But when he had told out £30, "Hold, gentlemen," said he, "as I
have acted fairly for you, so you shall have no reason to say I do not
do so to the end. I have taken £30, and for so much I agreed with the
boy; and so there is £20 of your money again."

They stood looking one at another a good while, as surprised at the
honesty of it; for till that time they were not quite without a secret
suspicion that he was the thief; but that piece of policy cleared up
his reputation to them. The gentleman that had got his bills said
softly to one of them, "Give it him all." But the other said (softly
too), "No, no; as long as he has got it abated, and is satisfied with
the £50 you have given him, 'tis very well; let it go as it 'tis."
This was not spoke so softly but he heard it, and said, "No," too; "I
am very well satisfied; I am glad I have got them for you;" and so
they began to part.

But just before they were going away one of the gentlemen said to him,
"Young man, come, you see we are just to you, and have done fairly, as
you have also; and we will not desire you to tell us who this cunning
fellow is that got such a prize from this gentleman; but as you have
talked with him, prithee, can you tell us nothing of how he did it,
that we may beware of such sparks again?"

"Sir," says Will, "when I shall tell you what they say, and how the
particular case stood, the gentleman would blame himself more than
anybody else, or as much at least. The young rogue that catched this
prize was out, it seems, with a comrade, who is a nimble, experienced
pickpocket as most in London; but at that time the artist was
somewhere at a distance, and this boy never had picked a pocket in his
life before; but he says he stood over against the passage into the
Exchange, on the east side, and the gentleman stood just by the
passage; that he was very earnest in talking with some other
gentleman, and often pulled out this book and opened it, and took
papers out and put others in, and returned it into his coat-pocket;
that the last time it hitched at the pocket-hole, or stopt at
something that was in the pocket, and hung a little out, which the
boy, who had watched it a good while perceiving, he passes by close to
the gentleman, and carried it smoothly off, without the gentleman's
perceiving it at all."

He went on, and said, "'Tis very strange gentlemen should put
pocket-books which have such things in them into those loose pockets,
and in so careless a manner." "That's very true," says the gentleman;
and so, with some other discourse of no great signification, he came
away to me.

We were now so rich that we scarce knew what to do with our money; at
least I did not, for I had no relations, no friends, nowhere to put
anything I had but in my pocket. As for Will, he had a poor mother,
but wicked as himself, and he made her rich and glad with his good
success.

We divided this booty equally; for though the gaining it was mine, yet
the improving of it was his, and his management brought the money; for
neither he or I could have made anything proportionable of the thing
any other way. As for the bills, there was no room to doubt but unless
they had been carried that minute to the goldsmith's for the money, he
would have come with notice to stop the payment, and perhaps have come
while the money was receiving, and have taken hold of the person. And
then as to the diamonds, there had been no offering them to sale by us
poor boys to anybody but those who were our known receivers, and they
would have given us nothing for them compared to what they were worth;
for, as I understood afterwards, those who made a trade of buying
stolen goods took care to have false weights, and cheat the poor devil
that stole them at least an ounce in three.

Upon the whole, we made the best of it many ways besides. I had a
strange kind of uninstructed conscience at that time; for though I
made no scruple of getting anything in this manner from anybody, yet I
could not bear destroying their bills and papers, which were things
that would do them a great deal of hurt, and do me no good; and I was
so tormented about it that I could not rest night or day while I made
the people easy from whom the things were taken.

I was now rich, so rich that I knew not what to do with my money or
with myself. I had lived so near and so close, that although, as I
said, I did now and then lay out twopence or threepence for mere
hunger, yet I had so many people who, as I said, employed me, and who
gave me victuals and sometimes clothes, that in a whole year I had not
quite spent the 15s. which I had saved of the custom-house gentleman's
money; and I had the four guineas which was of the first booty before
that still in my pocket--I mean the money that I let fall into the
tree.

But now I began to look higher; and though Will and I went abroad
several times together, yet, when small things offered, as
handkerchiefs and such trifles, we would not meddle with them, not
caring to run the risk for small matters. It fell out one day that, as
we were strolling about in West Smithfield on a Friday, there happened
to be an ancient country gentleman in the market, selling some very
large bullocks. It seems they came out of Sussex, for we heard him say
there were no such bullocks in the whole county of Suffolk. His
worship, for so they called him, had received the money for these
bullocks at a tavern, whose sign I forget now, and having some of it
in a bag, and the bag in his hand, he was taken with a sudden fit of
coughing, and stands to cough, resting his hand with the bag of money
in it upon the bulk-head of a shop just by the Cloister Gate in
Smithfield; that is to say, within three or four doors of it. We were
both just behind him. Says Will to me, "Stand ready." Upon this he
makes an artificial stumble, and falls with his head just against the
old gentleman in the very moment when he was coughing, ready to be
strangled, and quite spent for want of breath.

The violence of the blow beat the old gentleman quite down. The bag of
money did not immediately fly out of his hand, but I ran to get hold
of it, and gave it a quick snatch, pulled it clean away, and ran like
the wind down the Cloisters with it; turned on the left hand, as soon
as I was through, and cut into Little Britain, so into Bartholomew
Close, then across Aldersgate Street, through Paul's Alley into
Redcross Street, and so across all the streets, through innumerable
alleys, and never stopped till I got into the second quarter of
Moorfields, our old agreed rendezvous.

Will, in the meantime, fell down with the old gentleman, but soon got
up. The old knight, for such, it seems, he was, was frighted with the
fall, and his breath so stopped with his cough that he could not
recover himself to speak till some time; during which nimble Will was
got up again, and walked off. Nor could he call out, "Stop thief," or
tell anybody he had lost anything for a good while; but, coughing
vehemently and looking red, till he was almost black in the face, he
cried, "The ro--hegh, hegh, hegh--the rogues--hegh--have got--hegh,
hegh, hegh, hegh, hegh, hegh;" then he would get a little breath, and
at it again: "The rogues--hegh, hegh;" and, after a great many heghs
and rogues, he brought it out--"have got away my bag of money!"

All this while the people understood nothing of the matter; and as for
the rogues indeed, they had time enough to get clear away, and in
about an hour Will came to the rendezvous. There we sat down in the
grass again, and turned out the money, which proved to be eight
guineas, and £5, 12s. in silver, so that it made just £14 together.
This we shared upon the spot, and went to work the same day for more;
but whether it was that, being flushed with our success, we were not
so vigilant, or that no other opportunity offered, I know not, but we
got nothing more that night, nor so much as anything offered itself
for an attempt.

We took many walks of this kind, sometimes together, at a little
distance from one another, and several small hits we made; but we were
so flushed with our success that truly we were above meddling with
trifles, as I said before--no, not such things that others would have
been glad of; nothing but pocket-books, letter-cases, or sums of money
would move us.

The next adventure was in the dusk of the evening, in a court which
goes out of Gracechurch Street into Lombard Street, where the Quakers'
meeting house is. There was a young fellow who, as we learned
afterward, was a woollen-draper's apprentice in Gracechurch Street. It
seems he had been receiving a sum of money which was very
considerable, and he comes to a goldsmith's shop in Lombard Street
with it; paid in the most of it there; insomuch that it grew dark, and
the goldsmith began to be shutting in shop, and candles to be lighted.
We watched him in there, and stood on the other side of the way to see
what he did. When he had paid in all the money he intended, he stayed
still some time longer, to take notes, as I supposed, for what he had
paid; and by this time it was still darker than before. At last he
comes out of the shop, with still a pretty large bag under his arm,
and walks over into the court, which was then very dark. In the middle
of the court is a boarded entry, and farther, at the end of it, a
threshold; and as soon as he had set his foot over the threshold, he
was to turn on his left hand into Gracechurch Street.

"Keep up," says Will to me; "be nimble;" and as soon as he had said so
he flies at the young man, and gives him such a violent thrust that
pushed him forward with too great a force for him to stand; and as he
strove to recover, the threshold took his feet, and he fell forward
into the other part of the court, as if he had flown in the air, with
his head lying towards the Quakers' meeting-house. I stood ready, and
presently felt out the bag of money, which I heard fall; for it flew
out of his hand, he having his life to save, not his money. I went
forward with the money, and Will, that threw him down, finding I had
it, run backward, and as I made along Fenchurch Street, Will overtook
me, and we scoured home together. The poor young man was hurt a little
with the fall, and reported to his master, as we heard afterward, that
he was knocked down, which was not true, for neither Will or I had any
stick in our hands; but the master of the youth was, it seems, so very
thankful that his young man was not knocked down before he paid the
rest of the money (which was above £100 more) to the goldsmith, who
was Sir John Sweetapple, that he made no great noise at the loss he
had, and, as we heard afterward, only warned his apprentice to be more
careful and come no more through such places in the dark; whereas the
man had really no such deliverance as he imagined, for we saw him
before, when he had all the money about him; but it was no time of day
for such work as we had to do, so that he was in no danger before.

This booty amounted to £29, 16s., which was £14 18s. apiece, and added
exceedingly to my store, which began now to be very much too big for
my management; and indeed I began to be now full of care for the
preservation of what I had got. I wanted a trusty friend to commit it
to; but where was such a one to be found by a poor boy bred up among
thieves? If I should have let any honest body know that I had so much
money, they would have asked me how I came by it, and would have been
afraid to take it into their hands, lest I being some time or other
catched in my rogueries, they should be counted the receivers of
stolen goods and the encouragers of a thief.

We had, however, in the meantime a great many other successful
enterprises, some of one kind, some of another, and were never so much
as in danger of being apprehended; but my companion Will, who was now
grown a man, and encouraged by these advantages, fell into quite
another vein of wickedness, getting acquainted with a wretched gang of
fellows that turned their hands to everything that was vile.

Will was a lusty, strong fellow, and withal very bold and daring,
would fight anybody and venture upon anything; and I found he began to
be above the mean rank of a poor pickpocket, so I saw him but seldom.
However, once coming to me in a very friendly manner, and asking me
how I went on, I told him that I used the old trade still, that I had
had two or three good jobs: one with a young woman, whose pocket I had
picked of eleven guineas; and another, a countrywoman, just come out
of a stage-coach, seeing her pull out her bag to pay the coachman; and
that I followed her till I got an opportunity, and slipped it out so
neatly that though there was £8, 17s. in it, yet she never felt it go.
And several other jobs I told him of, by which I made pretty good
purchase. "I always said you were a lucky boy, Colonel Jacque," says
he; "but, come, you are grown almost a man now, and you shall not be
always at play at push-pin. I am got into better business, I assure
you, and you shall come into it too. I'll bring you into a brave gang,
Jacque," says he, "where you shall see we shall be all gentlemen."

Then he told me the trade itself, in short, which was with a set of
fellows that had two of the most desperate works upon their hands that
belonged to the whole art of thieving; that is to say, in the evening
they were footpads, and in the night they were housebreakers. Will
told me so many plausible stories, and talked of such great things,
that, in short, I, who had been always used to do anything he bid me
do, went with him without any hesitation.

Nothing is more certain than that hitherto, being partly from the
gross ignorance of my untaught childhood, as I observed before, partly
from the hardness and wickedness of the company I kept; and add to
these that it was the business I might be said to be brought up to--I
had, I say, all the way hitherto, no manner of thoughts about the good
or evil of what I was embarked in; consequently I had no sense of
conscience, no reproaches upon my mind for having done amiss.

Yet I had something in me, by what secret influence I knew not, kept
me from the other degrees of raking and vice, and, in short, from the
general wickedness of the rest of my companions. For example, I never
used any ill words, nobody ever heard me swear, nor was I given to
drink, or to love strong drink; and I cannot omit a circumstance that
very much served to prevent it. I had a strange original notion, as I
have mentioned in its place, of my being a gentleman; and several
things had casually happened in my way to increase this fancy of mine.
It happened one day, that being in the Glass-house Yard, between
Rosemary Lane and Ratcliff Highway, there came a man dressed very
well, and with a coach attending him, and he came (as I suppose) to
buy glass-bottles, or some other goods, as they sold; and in
bargaining for his goods, he swore most horrid oaths at every two or
three words. At length the master of the glass-house, an ancient,
grave gentleman, took the liberty to reprove him, which at first made
him swear the worse. After a while the gentleman was a little calmer,
but still he swore very much, though not so bad as at first. After
some time the master of the glass-house turned from him--"Really,
sir," says the good old gentleman, "you swear so, and take God's name
in vain so, that I cannot bear to stay with you. I would rather you
would let my goods alone and go somewhere else. I hope you won't take
it ill, but I don't desire to deal with anybody that does so. I am
afraid my glass-house should fall on your head while you stay in it."

The gentleman grew good-humoured at the reproof, and said, "Well,
come, don't go away; I won't swear any more," says he, "if I can help
it; for I own," says he, "I should not do it."

With that the old gentleman looked up at him, and, returning, "Really,
sir," says he, "'tis pity you, that seem to be a fine gentleman,
well-bred and good-humoured, should accustom yourself to such a
hateful practice. Why, 'tis not like a gentleman to swear; 'tis enough
for my black wretches that work there at the furnace, or for these
ragged, naked, blackguard boys," pointing at me, and some others of
the dirty crew that lay in the ashes. "'Tis bad enough for them," says
he, "and they ought to be corrected for it, too; but for a man of
breeding, sir," says he, "a gentleman, it ought to be looked upon as
below them. Gentlemen know better, and are taught better, and it is
plain you know better. I beseech you, sir, when you are tempted to
swear, always ask yourself, 'Is this like a gentleman? Does this
become me as a gentleman?' Do but ask yourself that question, and your
reason will prevail--you will soon leave it off."

I heard all this, and it made the blood run chill in my veins when he
said swearing was only fit for such as we were. In short, it made as
great an impression upon me as it did upon the gentleman; and yet he
took it very kindly too, and thanked the old gentleman for his advice.
But from that time forward I never had the least inclination to
swearing or ill words, and abhorred it when I heard other boys do it.
As to drinking, I had no opportunity; for I had nothing to drink but
water, or small-beer that anybody gave me in charity, for they seldom
gave away strong beer; and after I had money, I neither desired strong
beer or cared to part with my money to buy it.

Then as to principle, 'tis true I had no foundation laid in me by
education; and being early led by my fate into evil, I had the less
sense of its being evil left upon my mind. But when I began to grow to
an age of understanding, and to know that I was a thief, growing up in
all manner of villainy, and ripening apace for the gallows, it came
often into my thoughts that I was going wrong, that I was in the
high-road to the devil; and several times I would stop short, and ask
myself if this was the life of a gentleman.

But these little things wore off again as often as they came on, and I
followed the old trade again, especially when Will came to prompt me,
as I have observed, for he was a kind of a guide to me in all these
things; and I had, by custom and application, together with seeing his
way, learned to be as acute a workman as my master.

But to go back where I left off. Will came to me, as I have said, and
telling me how much better business he was fallen into, would have me
go along with him, and I should be a gentleman. Will, it seems,
understood that word in a quite different manner from me; for his
gentleman was nothing more or less than a gentleman thief, a villain
of a higher degree than a pickpocket, and one that might do something
more wicked, and better entitling him to the gallows, than could be
done in our way. But my gentleman that I had my eye upon was another
thing quite, though I could not really tell how to describe it either.

However, the word took with me, and I went with him. We were neither
of us old. Will was about twenty-four; and as for me, I was now about
eighteen, and pretty tall of my age.

The first time I went with him, he brought me into the company only of
two more young fellows. We met at the lower part of Gray's Inn Lane,
about an hour before sunset, and went out into the fields toward a
place called Pindar of Wakefield, where are abundance of brick-kilns.
Here it was agreed to spread from the field-path to the roadway, all
the way towards Pancras Church, to observe any chance game, as they
called it, which they might shoot flying. Upon the path within the
bank on the side of the road going towards Kentish Town, two of our
gang, Will and one of the others, met a single gentleman walking apace
towards the town. Being almost dark, Will cried, "Mark, ho!" which, it
seems, was the word at which we were all to stand still at a distance,
come in if he wanted help, and give a signal if anything appeared that
was dangerous.

Will steps up to the gentleman, stops him, and put the question; that
is, "Sir, your money?" The gentleman, seeing he was alone, struck at
him with his cane; but Will, a nimble, strong fellow, flew in upon
him, and with struggling got him down. Then he begged for his life,
Will having told him with an oath that he would cut his throat. In
that moment, while this was doing, comes a hackney-coach along the
road, and the fourth man, who was that way, cries, "Mark, ho!" which
was to intimate that it was a prize, not a surprise. And accordingly
the next man went up to assist him, where they stopped the coach,
which had a doctor of physic and a surgeon in it, who had been to
visit some considerable patient, and, I suppose, had had considerable
fees. For here they got two good purses, one with eleven or twelve
guineas, the other six with some pocket-money, two watches, one
diamond ring, and the surgeon's plaster-box, which was most of it full
of silver instruments.

While they were at this work, Will kept the man down who was under
him; and though he promised not to kill him, unless he offered to make
a noise, yet he would not let him stir till he heard the noise of the
coach going on again, by which he knew the job was over on that side.
Then he carried him a little out of the way, tied his hands behind
him, and bade him lie still and make no noise, and he would come back
in half-an-hour and untie him, upon his word; but if he cried out, he
would come back and kill him.

The poor man promised to lie still and make no noise, and did so; and
had not above 11s. 6d. in his pocket, which Will took, and came back
to the rest; but while they were together, I, who was on the side of
the Pindar of Wakefield, cried, "Mark, ho!" too.

What I saw was a couple of poor women, one a kind of a nurse, and the
other a maid-servant, going for Kentish Town. As Will knew that I was
but young at the work, he came flying to me, and seeing how easy a
bargain it was, he said, "Go, colonel, fall to work." I went up to
them, and speaking to the elderly woman, "Nurse," said I, "don't be
in such haste. I want to speak with you;" at which they both stopped,
and looked a little frighted. "Don't be frighted, sweetheart," said I
to the maid; "a little of that money in the bottom of your pocket will
make all easy, and I will do you no harm." By this time Will came up
to us, for they did not see him before; then they began to scream out.
"Hold!" says I; "make no noise, unless you have a mind to force us to
murder you whether we will or no. Give me your money presently, and
make no words, and we shan't hurt you." Upon this the poor maid pulled
out 5s. 6d., and the old woman a guinea and a shilling, crying
heartily for her money, and said it was all she had left in the world.
Well, we took it for all that, though it made my very heart bleed to
see what agony the poor woman was in at parting with it, and I asked
her where she lived. She said her name was Smith, and she lived at
Kentish Town. I said nothing to her, but bid them go on about their
business, and I gave Will the money. So in a few minutes we were all
together again. Says one of the other rogues, "Come, this is well
enough for one road; it's time to be gone." So we jogged away,
crossing the fields, out of the path towards Tottenham Court. "But
hold!" says Will; "I must go and untie the man." "D--n him," says one
of them, "let him lie." "No," says Will, "I won't be worse than my
word; I will untie him." So he went to the place, but the man was
gone. Either he had untied himself, or somebody had passed by, and he
had called for help, and so was untied; for he could not find him, nor
make him hear, though he ventured to call twice for him aloud.

This made us hasten away the faster, and getting into Tottenham Court
Road, they thought it was a little too near, so they made into the
town at St. Giles's, and crossing to Piccadilly, went to Hyde Park
gate. Here they ventured to rob another coach; that is to say, one of
the two other rogues and Will did it, between the Park gate and
Knightsbridge. There was in it only a gentleman and a whore that he
had picked up, it seems, at the Spring Garden, a little farther. They
took the gentleman's money, his watch, and his silver-hilted sword;
but when they come to the slut, she damned and cursed them for robbing
the gentleman of his money and leaving him none for her. As for
herself, she had not one sixpenny piece about her, though she was
indeed well enough dressed too.

Having made this adventure, we left that road too, and went over the
fields to Chelsea. In the way from Westminster to Chelsea we met three
gentlemen, but they were too strong for us to meddle with. They had
been afraid to come over the fields so late (for by this time it was
eight o'clock, and though the moon gave some light, yet it was too
late and too dark to be safe); so they hired three men at Chelsea, two
with pitchforks, and the third, a waterman, with a boathook staff to
guard them. We would have steered clear of them, and cared not to have
them see us, if we could help it. But they did see us, and cried, "Who
comes there?" We answered, "Friends;" and so they went on, to our
great satisfaction.

When we came to Chelsea, it seems we had other work to do, which I had
not been made privy to; and this was a house to be robbed. They had
some intelligence, it seems, with a servant in the house, who was of
their gang. This rogue was a waiting-man, or footman, and he had a
watchword to let them in by; but this fellow, not for want of being a
villain, but by getting drunk and not minding his part of the work,
disappointed us. For he had promised to rise at two o'clock in the
morning and let us all in; but, being very drunk, and not come in at
eleven o'clock, his master ordered him to be shut out and the doors
locked up, and charged the other servants not to let him in upon any
terms whatsoever.

We came about the house at one o'clock to make our observations,
intending to go and lie under Beaufort House wall till the clock
struck two, and then to come again; but, behold! when we came to the
house, there lay the fellow at the door fast asleep, and very drunk.
Will, who, I found, was the leader in all these things, waked the
fellow, who, as he had had about two hours' sleep, was a little come
to himself, and told them the misfortune, as he called it, and that he
could not get in. They had some instruments about them, by which they
could have broken in by force; but Will considered that as it was but
waiting till another time, and they should be let in quietly, they
resolved to give it over for that time.

But this was a happy drunken bout for the family; for the fellow
having let fall some words in his drink (for he was a saucy one as
well as a drunken one, and talked oddly), as that it had been better
they had let him in, and he would make them pay dear for it, or some
such thing, the master hearing of it, turned him away in the morning,
and never let him come into his house again. So, I say, it was a happy
drunkenness to the family, for it saved them from being robbed, and
perhaps murdered; for they were a cursed, bloody crew, and, as I
found, were about thirteen of them in all, whereof three of them made
it their business to get into gentlemen's services, and so to open
doors in the night, and let the other rogues in upon them to rob and
destroy them.

I rambled this whole night with them. They went from Chelsea, being
disappointed there as above, to Kensington. There they broke into a
brewhouse and washhouse, and by that means into an out-kitchen of a
gentleman's house, where they unhanged a small copper, and brought it
off, and stole about a hundredweight of pewter, and went clear off
with that too. And every one going their own by-ways, they found means
to get safe to their several receptacles where they used to dispose of
such things.

We lay still the next day, and shared the effects stolen that night,
of which my share came to £8, 19s. The copper and pewter being
weighed, and cast up, a person was at hand to take it as money, at
about half value, and in the afternoon Will and I came away together.
Will was mighty full of the success we had had, and how we might be
sure of the like this way every day. But he observed that I did not
seem so elevated at the success of that night's ramble as I used to
be, and also that I did not take any great notice of the expectations
he was in of what was to come. Yet I had said little to him at that
time.

But my heart was full of the poor woman's case at Kentish Town, and I
resolved, if possible, to find her out and give her her money. With
the abhorrence that filled my mind at the cruelty of that act, there
necessarily followed a little distaste for the thing itself; and now
it came into my head with a double force that this was the high road
to the devil, and that certainly this was not the life of a gentleman.

Will and I parted for that time; but next morning we met again, and
Will was mighty brisk and merry. "And now, Colonel Jacque," says he,
"we shall be rich very quickly." "Well," says I, "and what shall we do
when we are rich?" "Do!" says he; "we will buy a couple of good
horses, and go farther afield."

"What do you mean by farther afield?" says I. "Why," says he, "we will
take the highway like gentlemen, and then we shall get a great deal of
money indeed." "Well," says I, "what then?" "Why, then," says he, "we
shall live like gentlemen."

"But, Will," says I, "if we get a great deal of money, shan't we leave
this trade off, and sit down, and be safe and quiet?"

"Ay," says Will; "when we have got a great estate, we shall be willing
to lay it down." "But where," says I, "shall we be before that time
comes, if we should drive on this cursed kind of trade?"

"Prithee never think of that," says Will; "if you think of those
things, you will never be fit to be a gentleman." He touched me there
indeed, for it ran much in my mind still that I was to be a gentleman,
and it made me dumb for a while; but I came to myself after a little
while, and I said to him, pretty tartly, "Why, Will, do you call this
way of living the life of a gentleman?"

"Why," says Will, "why not?"

"Why," says I, "was it like a gentleman for me to take that 22s. from
a poor ancient woman, when she begged of me upon her knees not to take
it, and told me it was all she had in the world to buy her bread for
herself and a sick child which she had at home? Do you think I could
be so cruel, if you had not stood by and made me do it? Why, I cried
at doing it as much as the poor woman did, though I did not let you
see me."

"You fool you," says Will; "you will never be fit for our business,
indeed, if you mind such things as those. I shall bring you off those
things quickly. Why, if you will be fit for business, you must learn
to fight when they resist, and cut their throats when they submit; you
must learn to stop their breath that they may beg and pray no more.
What signifies pity? Prithee, who will pity us when we come to the Old
Bailey? I warrant you that whining old woman, that begged so heartily
for her 22s., would let you and I beg upon our knees, and would not
save our lives by not coming in for an evidence against us. Did you
ever see any of them cry when they see gentlemen go to the gallows?"

"Well, Will," says I, "you had better let us keep to the business we
were in before. There were no such cruel doings in that, and yet we
got more money by it than I believe we shall get at this."

"No, no," says Will, "you are a fool; you don't know what fine things
we shall do in a little while."

Upon this discourse we parted for that time; but I resolved with
myself that I would never be concerned with him that way any more. The
truth is, they were such a dreadful gang, such horrid barbarous
villains, that even that little while that I was among them my very
blood run cold in my veins at what I heard, particularly the continued
raving and damning one another and themselves at every word they
spoke; and then the horrid resolutions of murder, and cutting throats,
which I perceived was in their minds upon any occasion that should
present. This appeared first in their discourse upon the
disappointment they met with at Chelsea, where the two rogues that
were with us, ay, and Will too, damned and raged that they could not
get into the house, and swore they would have cut the gentleman's
throat if they had got in, and shook hands, damning and cursing
themselves if they did not murder the whole family as soon as Tom
(that was the manservant) could get an opportunity to let them in.

Two days after this Will came to my lodging; for I had now got a room
by myself, had bought me tolerable good clothes and some shirts, and
began to look like other folks. But, as it happened, I was abroad upon
the scout in another way; for though I was not hardened enough for so
black a villain as Will would have had me be, yet I had not arrived to
any principle sufficient to keep me from a life, in its degree wicked
enough, which tended to the same destruction, though not in so violent
and precipitant degrees. I had his message delivered to me, which was
to meet him the next evening at such a place, and as I came in time
enough to meet, so I went to the place, but resolved beforehand that I
would not go any more with him among the gang.

However, to my great satisfaction, I missed him; for he did not come
at all to the place, but met with the gang at another place, they
having sent for him in haste upon the notice of some booty; and so
they went all away together. This was a summons, it seems, from one of
the creatures which they had abroad in a family, where an opportunity
offered them to commit a notorious robbery, down almost as far as
Hounslow, and where they wounded a gentleman's gardener so that I
think he died, and robbed the house of a very considerable sum of
money and plate.

This, however, was not so clean carried, nor did they get in so easy,
but by the resistance they met with the neighbours were all alarmed,
and the gentlemen rogues were pursued, and being at London with the
booty, one of them was taken. Will, a dexterous fellow and head of the
gang, made his escape, and though in his clothes, with a great weight
about him of both money and plate, plunged into the Thames and swam
over where there was no path or road leading to the river; so that
nobody suspected any one's going that way. Being got over, he made his
way, wet as he was, into some woods adjacent, and, as he told me
afterwards, not far from Chertsey, and stayed lurking about in the
woods or fields thereabouts till his clothes were dry; then, in the
night, got down to Kingston, and so to Mortlake, where he got a boat
to London.

He knew nothing that one of his comrades was taken; only he knew that
they were all so closely pursued that they were obliged to disperse,
and every one to shift for himself. He happened to come home in the
evening, as good luck then directed him, just after search had been
made for him by the constables; his companion, who was taken, having,
upon promise of favour, and of saving him from the gallows, discovered
his companions, and Will among the rest, as the principal party in the
whole undertaking.

Will got notice of this just time enough to run for it and not to be
taken; and away he came to look for me; but, as my good fate still
directed, I was not at home neither. However, he left all his booty at
my lodging, and hid it in an old coat that lay under my bedding, and
left word that my brother Will had been there, and had left his coat
that he borrowed of me, and that it was under my bed.

I knew not what to make of it, but went up to go to bed; and, finding
the parcel, was perfectly frighted to see, wrapped up in it, above one
hundred pound in plate and money, and yet knew nothing of brother
Will, as he called himself, nor did I hear of him for three or four
days.

At the end of four days I heard, by great accident, that Will, who
used to be seen with me, and who called me brother, was taken, and
would be hanged. Next day a poor man, a shoemaker, that used formerly
to have a kindness for me, and to send me of errands, and gave me
sometimes some victuals, seeing me accidentally in Rosemary Lane,
going by him, clasped me fast hold by the arm. "Hark ye, young man,"
says he, "have I catched you?" and hauled me along as if I had been a
thief apprehended, and he the constable. "Hark ye, Colonel Jacque,"
says he again, "come along with me. I must speak with you. What, are
you got into this gang too? What, are you turned housebreaker? Come,
I'll have you hanged, to be sure."

These were dreadful words to me, who, though not guilty of the
particular thing in question, yet was frighted heartily before, and
did not know what I might be charged with by Will, if he was taken, as
I heard that very morning he was. With these words, the shoemaker
began to hale and drag me along as he used to do when I was a boy.

However, recovering my spirits, and provoked to the highest degree, I
said to him again, "What do you mean, Mr. ----? Let me alone, or you
will oblige me to make you do it;" and with that I stopped short, and
soon let him see I was grown a little too big to be haled about as I
used to be when I run of his errands, and made a motion with my other
hand as if I would strike him in the face.

"How, Jacque!" says he; "will you strike me? Will you strike your old
friend?" and then he let go my arm, and laughed. "Well, but hark ye,
colonel," says he, "I am in earnest. I hear bad news of you. They say
you are gotten into bad company, and that this Will calls you brother.
He is a great villain, and I hear he is charged with a bloody robbery,
and will be hanged if he is taken. I hope you are not concerned with
him. If you are, I would advise you to shift for yourself, for the
constable and the headborough are after him to-day, and if he can lay
any thing to you he will do it, you may be sure. He will certainly
hang you to save himself."

This was kind, and I thanked him, but told him this was a thing too
serious, and that had too much weight in it, to be jested with, as he
had done before; and that some ignorant stranger might have seized
upon me as a person guilty, who had no further concern in it than just
knowing the man, and so I might have been brought into trouble for
nothing. At least people might have thought I was among them, whether
I was or no, and it would have rendered me suspected, though I was
innocent.

He acknowledged that; told me he was but in jest, and that he talked
to me just as he used to do.

"However, colonel," says he, "I won't jest any more with you in a
thing of such a dangerous consequence; I only advise you to keep the
fellow company no more."

I thanked him, and went away, but in the greatest perplexity
imaginable. And now, not knowing what to do with myself, or with the
little ill-gotten wealth which I had, I went musing and alone into the
fields towards Stepney, my usual walk, and there began to consider
what to do. And as this creature had left his prize in my garret, I
began to think that if he should be taken, and should confess and send
the officers to search there for the goods, and they should find them,
I should be undone, and should be taken up for a confederate; whereas
I knew nothing of the matter, and had no hand in it.

While I was thus musing, and in great perplexity, I heard somebody
halloo to me; and, looking about, I saw Will running after me. I knew
not what to think at first, but seeing him alone, was the more
encouraged, and I stood still for him. When he came up to me I said to
him, "What is the matter, Will?" "Matter!" says Will. "Matter enough;
I am undone. When was you at home?"

"I saw what you left there," says I. "What is the meaning of it, and
where got you all that? Is that your being undone?"

"Ay," says Will, "I am undone for all that; for the officers are after
me; and I am a dead dog if I am taken, for George is in custody, and
he has peached on me and all the others to save his life."

"Life!" says I; "why should you lose your life if they should take
you? Pray what would they do to you?"

"Do to me!" says he; "they would hang me, if the king had ne'er
another soldier in his guards. I shall certainly be hanged as I am now
alive."

This frighted me terribly, and I said, "And what will you do then?"
"Nay," says he, "I know not. I would get out of the nation, if I knew
how; but I am a stranger to all those things, and I know not what to
do, not I. Advise me, Jacque," says he; "prithee tell me whither shall
I go. I have a good mind to go to sea."

"You talk of going away," says I; "what will you do with all you have
hid in my garret? It must not lie there," said I; "for if I should be
taken up for it, and it be found to be the money you stole, I shall be
ruined."

"I care not what becomes of it, not I," says Will. "I'll be gone. Do
you take it, if you will, and do what you will with it. I must fly,
and I cannot take it with me." "I won't have it, not I," says I to
him. "I'll go and fetch it to you if you will take it," says I; "but I
won't meddle with it. Besides, there is plate. What shall I do with
plate?" said I. "If I should offer to sell it anywhere," said I, "they
will stop me."

"As for that," says Will, "I could sell it well enough, if I had it;
but I must not be seen anywhere among my old acquaintance; for I am
blown, and they will all betray me. But I will tell you where you
shall go and sell it, if you will, and they will ask you no questions,
if you give them the word that I will give you." So he gave me the
word, and directions to a pawnbroker near Cloth Fair. The word was
_Good tower standard_. Having these instructions, he said to me,
"Colonel Jacque, I am sure you won't betray me; and I promise you, if
I am taken, and should be hanged, I won't name you. I will go to such
a house" (naming a house at Bromley, by Bow, where he and I had often
been), "and there," says he, "I'll stay till it is dark. At night I
will come near the streets, and I will lay under such a haystack all
night" (a place we both knew also very well); "and if you cannot
finish to come to me there, I will go back to Bow."

I went back and took the cargo, went to the place by Cloth Fair, and
gave the word _Good tower standard_; and without any words, they took
the plate, weighed it, and paid me after the rate of 2s. per ounce for
it. So I came away and went to meet him, but it was too late to meet
him at the first place; but I went to the haystack, and there I found
him fast asleep.

I delivered him his cargo. What it really amounted to I knew not, for
I never told it; but I went home to my quarters very late and tired. I
went to sleep at first, but, notwithstanding I was so weary, I slept
little or none for several hours. At last, being overcome with sleep,
I dropped, but was immediately roused with noise of people knocking at
the door, as if they would beat it down, and crying and calling out to
the people of the house, "Rise, and let in the constable here. We come
for your lodger in the garret."

I was frighted to the last degree, and started up in my bed; but when
I was awaked I heard no noise at all, but of two watchmen thumping at
the doors with their staves, and giving the hour, "Past three o'clock,
and a rainy, wet morning"--for such it was. I was very glad when I
found it was but a dream, and went to bed again, but was soon roused a
second time with the same, very same noise and words. Then, being
sooner awaked than I was before, I jumped out of bed and ran to the
window, and found it was just an hour more, and the watchmen were come
about: "Past four o'clock," and they went away again very quietly; so
I lay me down again, and slept the rest of the night quietly enough.

I laid no stress upon the thing called a dream, neither till now did I
understand that dreams were of any importance; but getting up the next
day, and going out with a resolution to meet brother Will, who should
I meet but my former brother, Captain Jacque. When he saw me, he came
close to me in his blunt way, and says, "Do you hear the news?" "No,
not I," said I; "what news?" "Your old comrade and teacher is taken
this morning and carried to Newgate." "How," says I, "this morning?"
"Yes," says he, "this morning at four o'clock. He is charged with a
robbery and murder somewhere beyond Brentford; and that which is worse
is, that he is impeached by one of the gang, who, to save his own
life, has turned evidence; and therefore you had best consider," says
the captain, "what you have to do." "What I have to do!" says I; "and
what do you mean by that?" "Nay, colonel," says he, "don't be angry;
you know best. If you are not in danger, I am glad of it, but I doubt
not but you were with them." "No, not I," said I again; "I assure you
I was not." "Well," says he, "but if you were not with them this bout,
you have been with them at other times; and 'twill be all one." "Not
I," says I; "you are quite mistaken. I am none of their gang; they are
above my quality." With such, and a little more talk of that kind, we
parted, and Captain Jacque went away; but as he went I observed he
shook his head, seemed to have more concern upon him than he could be
supposed to have merely on my account, of which we shall hear more
very quickly.

I was extremely alarmed when I heard Will was in Newgate, and, had I
known where to have gone, would certainly have fled as far as legs
would have carried me. My very joints trembled, and I was ready to
sink into the ground; and all that evening, and that night following,
I was in the uttermost consternation. My head ran upon nothing but
Newgate and the gallows, and being hanged; which, I said, I deserved,
if it were for nothing but taking that two-and-twenty shillings from
the poor old nurse.

The first thing my perplexed thoughts allowed me to take care of was
my money. This indeed lay in a little compass, and I carried it
generally all about me. I had got together, as you will perceive by
the past account, above £60 (for I spent nothing), and what to do with
it I knew not. At last it came into my head that I would go to my
benefactor, the clerk at the custom-house, if he was to be found, and
see if I could get him to take the rest of my money. The only business
was to make a plausible story to him, that he might not wonder how I
came by so much money.

But my invention quickly supplied that want. There was a suit of
clothes at one of our houses of rendezvous, which was left there for
any of the gang to put on, upon particular occasions, as a disguise.
This was a green livery, laced with pink-coloured galloon, and lined
with the same; an edged hat, a pair of boots, and a whip. I went and
dressed myself up in this livery, and went to my gentleman, to his
house in Tower Street, and there I found him in health and well, just
the same honest gentleman as ever.

He stared at me when first I came to him, for I met him just at his
door; I say, he stared at me, and seeing me bow and bow to him several
times, with my laced hat under my arm, at last, not knowing me in the
least, says he to me, "Dost thou want to speak with me, young man?"
And I said, "Yes, sir; I believe your worship" (I had learnt some
manners now) "does not know me. I am the poor boy Jacque." He looked
hard at me, and then recollecting me presently, says he, "Who--Colonel
Jacque! Why, where hast thou been all this while? Why, 'tis five or
six years since I saw you." "'Tis above six years, and please your
worship," says I.

"Well, and where hast thou been all this while?" says he.

"I have been in the country, sir," says I, "at service."

"Well, Colonel Jacque," says he, "you give long credit; what's the
reason you han't fetched your money all this while, nor the interest?
Why, you will grow so rich in time by the interest of your money, you
won't know what to do with it."

To that I said nothing, but bowed and scraped a great many times.
"Well, come, Colonel Jacque," said he, "come in and I will give you
your money, and the interest of it too."

I cringed and bowed, and told him I did not come to him for my money;
for I had had a good place or two, and I did not want my money.

"Well, Colonel Jacque," said he, "and who do you live with?"

"Sir Jonathan Loxham," said I, "sir, in Somersetshire, and please your
worship." This was a name I had heard of, but knew nothing of any such
gentleman, or of the country.

"Well," says he, "but won't you have your money, Jacque?"

"No, sir," said I, "if your worship would please, for I have had a
good place."

"If I would please to do what, prithee? Your money is ready, I tell
thee."

"No, sir," said I; "but I have had a good place."

"Well, and what dost thou mean, Jacque? I do not understand thee."

"Why, and please your worship, my old master, Sir Jonathan's father,
left me £30 when he died, and a suit of mourning, and----"

"And what, prithee, Jacque? What, hast thou brought me more money?"
For then he began to understand what I meant.

"Yes, sir," said I; "and your worship would be so good to take it, and
put it all together. I have saved some, too, out of my wages."

"I told you, Jacque," says he, "you would be rich. And how much hast
thou saved? Come, let me see it."

To shorten the story, I pulled it out, and he was content to take it,
giving me his note, with interest, for the whole sum, which amounted
to £94; that is to say,

     £25 The first money.
       9 For six years' interest.
      60 Now paid him.
     ___
     £94


I came away exceeding joyful, made him abundance of bows and scrapes,
and went immediately to shift my clothes again, with a resolution to
run away from London and see it no more for a great while. But I was
surprised the very next morning, when, going cross Rosemary Lane, by
the end of the place which is called Rag Fair, I heard one call
"Jacque." He had said something before, which I did not hear, but upon
hearing the name Jacque I looked about me, immediately saw three men,
and after them a constable coming towards me with great fury. I was in
a great surprise, and started to run, but one of them clapped in upon
me, and got hold of me, and in a moment the rest surrounded me, and I
was taken. I asked them what they wanted, and what I had done. They
told me it was no place to talk of that there, but showed me their
warrant, and bade me read it, and I should know the rest when I came
before the justice; so they hurried me away.

I took the warrant, but, to my great affliction, I could know nothing
by that, for I could not read; so I desired them to read it, and they
read it, that they were to apprehend a known thief, that went by the
name of one of the three Jacques of Rag Fair; for that he was charged
upon oath with having been a party in a notorious robbery, burglary,
and murder, committed so and so, in such a place, and on such a day.

It was to no purpose for me to deny it, or to say I knew nothing of
it; that was none of their business, they said; that must be disputed,
they told me, before the justice, where I would find that it was sworn
positively against me, and then, perhaps, I might be better satisfied.

I had no remedy but patience; and as my heart was full of terror and
guilt, so I was ready to die with the weight of it as they carried me
along. For as I very well knew that I was guilty of the first day's
work, though I was not of the last, so I did not doubt but I should be
sent to Newgate, and then I took it for granted I must be hanged; for
to go to Newgate and to be hanged were to me as things which
necessarily followed one another.

But I had a sharp conflict to go through before it came to that part;
and that was before the justice; where, when I was come, and the
constable brought me in, the justice asked me my name. "But hold,"
says he, "young man; before I ask you your name, let me do you
justice. You are not bound to answer till your accusers come;" so,
turning to the constable, he asked for his warrant.

"Well," says the justice, "you have brought this young man here by
virtue of this warrant. Is this young man the person for whom this
warrant is granted?"

_Con_. I believe so, and please your worship.

_Just_. Believe so! Why, are you not sure of it?

_Con_. An't please your worship, the people said so where I took him.

_Just_. It is a very particular kind of warrant; it is to apprehend a
young man who goes by the name of Jacque, but no surname, only that it
is said he is called Captain Jacque, or some other such name. Now,
young man, pray is your name Captain Jacque? or are you usually called
so?

I presently found that the men that took me knew nothing of me, and
the constable had taken me up by hearsay; so I took heart, and told
the justice that I thought, with submission, that it was not the
present question what my name was, but what these men, or any one
else, had to lay to my charge; whether I was the person who the
warrant empowered them to apprehend or no.

He smiled. "'Tis very true, young man," says he, "it is very true;
and, on my word, if they have taken you up, and do not know you, and
there is nobody to charge you, they will be mistaken to their own
damage."

Then I told his worship I hoped I should not be obliged to tell my
name till my accuser was brought to charge me, and then I should not
conceal my name.

"It is but reason," said his good worship. "Mr. Constable," turning to
the officers, "are you sure this is the person that is intended in
your warrant? If you are not, you must fetch the person that accuses
him, and on whose oath the warrant was granted." They used many words
to insinuate that I was the person, and that I knew it well enough,
and that I should be obliged to tell my name.

I insisted on the unreasonableness of it, and that I should not be
obliged to accuse myself: and the justice told them in so many words
that he could not force me to it, that I might do it if I would,
indeed; "but you see," says the justice, "he understood too well to be
imposed upon in that case." So that, in short, after an hour's
debating before his worship, in which time I pleaded against four of
them, the justice told them they must produce the accuser, or he must
discharge me.

I was greatly encouraged at this, and argued with the more vigour for
myself. At length the accuser was brought, fettered as he was, from
the gaol, and glad I was when I saw him, and found that I knew him
not; that is to say, that it was not one of the two rogues that I went
out with that night that we robbed the poor old woman.

When the prisoner was brought into the room he was set right against
me.

"Do you know this young man?" says the justice.

"No, sir," says the prisoner; "I never saw him in my life."

"Hum!" says the justice; "did not you charge one that goes by the name
of Jacque, or Captain Jacque, as concerned in the robbery and murder
which you are in custody for?"

_Pris_. Yes, an't please your worship.

_Just_. And is this the man, or is he not?

_Pris_. This is not the man, sir; I never saw this man before.

"Very good, Mr. Constable," says the justice, "what must we do now?"

"I am surprised," says the constable. "I was at such a house" (naming
the house), "and this young man went by. The people cried out,
'There's Jacque; that's your man;' and these people ran after him, and
apprehended him."

"Well," says the justice, "and have these people anything to say to
him? Can they prove that he is the person?"

One said no, and the other said no; and, in short, they all said no.
"Why, then," said the justice, "what can be done? The young man must
be discharged; and I must tell you, Mr. Constable, and you gentlemen
that have brought him hither, he may give you trouble, if he thinks
fit, for your being so rash. But look you, young man," says the
justice, "you have no great damage done you, and the constable, though
he has been mistaken, had no ill design, but to be faithful to his
office. I think you may pass it by."

I told his worship I would readily pass it by at his direction, but I
thought the constable and the rest could do no less than to go back to
the place where they had insulted me, and declare publicly there that
I was honourably acquitted, and that I was not the man. This his
worship said was very reasonable, and the constable and his assistants
promised to do it, and so we came all away good friends, and I was
cleared with triumph.

_Note_.--This was the time that, as I mentioned above, the justice
talked to me, and told me I was born to better things, and that by my
well managing of my own defence, he did not question but I had been
well educated; and that he was sorry I should fall into such a
misfortune as this, which he hoped, however, would be no dishonour to
me, since I was so handsomely acquitted.

Though his worship was mistaken in the matter of my education, yet it
had this good effect upon me, that I resolved, if possible, I would
learn to read and write, that I would not be such an uncapable
creature, that I should not be able to read a warrant, and see whether
I was the person to be apprehended or not.

But there was something more in all this than what I have taken notice
of; for, in a word, it appeared plainly that my brother, Captain
Jacque, who had the forwardness to put it to me whether I was among
them or no, when in truth he was there himself, had the only reason to
be afraid to fly, at the same time that he advised me to shift for
myself.

As this presently occurred to my thoughts, so I made it my business to
inquire and find him out, and to give him notice of it.

In the meantime, being now confident of my own safety, I had no more
concern upon my mind about myself; but now I began to be anxious for
poor Will, my master and tutor in wickedness, who was now fast by the
heels in Newgate, while I was happily at liberty; and I wanted very
much to go and see him, and accordingly did so.

I found him in a sad condition, loaden with heavy irons, and had
himself no prospect or hope of escaping. He told me he should die, but
bid me be easy; for, as it would do him no good to accuse me, who
never was out with any of them but that once, so I might depend upon
it he would not bring me into the trouble. As for the rogue who had
betrayed them all, he was not able to hurt me, for I might be
satisfied he had never seen me in his life. "But, Colonel Jacque,"
says he, "I will tell you who was with us, and that is, your brother
the captain, and the villain has certainly named him; and, therefore,"
says he, "if you can give him timely notice of it, do, that he may
make his escape."

He said a great many things to warn me off following the steps he had
led me. "I was far out, Jacque," said he, "when I told you, to be a
notorious thief was to live like a gentleman." He chiefly discovered
his concern that they had, as he feared, killed the gentleman's
gardener, and that he in particular had given him a wound in the neck,
of which he was afraid he would die.

He had a great sum of money in gold about him, being the same that I
had carried back to him at the haystack; and he had concealed it so
well that those who took him had not found it, and he gave me the
greatest part of it to carry to his mother, which I very honestly
delivered, and came away with a heavy heart. Nor did I ever see him
since, for he was executed in about three weeks' time after, being
condemned that very next sessions.

I had nothing to do now but to find the captain, who, though not
without some trouble, I at last got news of, and told him the whole
story, and how I had been taken up for him by mistake, and was come
off, but that the warrant was still out for him, and very strict
search after him; I say, telling him all this, he presently discovered
by his surprise that he was guilty, and after a few words more, told
me plainly it was all true, that he was in the robbery, and that he
had the greatest part of the booty in keeping, but what to do with it,
or himself, he did not know; and wanted me to tell him, which I was
very unfit to do, for I knew nothing of the world. Then he told me he
had a mind to fly into Scotland, which was easy to be done, and asked
me if I would go with him. I told him I would, with all my heart, if I
had money enough to bear the charge. He had the trade still in his
eyes by his answer. "I warrant you," says he, "we will make the
journey pay our charge." "I dare not think of going any more upon the
adventure," says I. "Besides, if we meet with any misfortune out of
our knowledge, we shall never get out of it; we shall be undone."
"Nay," says he; "we shall find no mercy here, if they can catch us,
and they can do no worse abroad. I am for venturing at all events."

"Well, but, captain," says I, "have you husbanded your time so ill
that you have no money to supply you in such a time as this?" "I have
very little indeed," said he, "for I have had bad luck lately." But he
lied, for he had a great share of the booty they had got at their last
adventure, as above; and, as the rest complained, he and Will had got
almost all of it, and kept the rest out of their shares, which made
them the willinger to discover them.

However it was, he owned he had about £22 in money, and something that
would yield money--I suppose it was plate; but he would not tell me
what it was, or where it was. But he said he durst not go to fetch it,
for he should be betrayed and seized, so he would venture without it.
"Sure," says he, "we shall come back again some time or other."

I honestly produced all the money I had, which was £16 and some odd
shillings. "Now," says I, "if we are good husbands, and travel
frugally, this will carry us quite out of danger." For we had both
been assured that when we came out of England we should be both safe,
and nobody could hurt us, though they had known us; but we neither of
us thought it was so many weary steps to Scotland as we found it.

I speak of myself as in the same circumstances of danger with brother
Jacque; but it was only thus: I was in as much fear as he, but not in
quite as much danger.

I cannot omit that, in the interval of these things, and a few days
before I carried my money to the gentleman in Tower Street, I took a
walk all alone into the fields, in order to go to Kentish Town and do
justice to the poor old nurse. It happened that, before I was aware, I
crossed a field that came to the very spot where I robbed the poor old
woman and the maid, or where, I should say, Will made me rob them. My
heart had reproached me many a time with that cruel action, and many a
time I promised to myself that I would find a way to make her
satisfaction and restore her money, and that day I had set apart for
the work, but was a little surprised that I was so suddenly upon the
unhappy spot.

The place brought to my mind the villainy I had committed there, and
something struck me with a kind of wish--I cannot say prayer, for I
knew not what that meant--that I might leave off that cursed trade,
and said to myself, "Oh that I had some trade to live by! I would
never rob no more, for sure 'tis a wicked, abominable thing."

Here indeed I felt the loss of what just parents do, and ought to do,
by all their children--I mean, being bred to some trade or employment;
and I wept many times that I knew not what to do or what to turn my
hand to, though, I resolved to leave off the wicked course I was in.

But to return to my journey. I asked my way to Kentish Town, and it
happened to be of a poor woman that said she lived there; upon which
intelligence I asked if she knew a woman that lived there whose name
was Smith. She answered yes, very well; that she was not a settled
inhabitant, only a lodger in the town, but that she was an honest,
poor, industrious woman, and by her labour and pains maintained a poor
diseased husband, that had been unable to help himself some years.

"What a villain have I been," said I to myself, "that I should rob
such a poor woman as this, and add grief and tears to her misery, and
to the sorrows of her house!" This quickened my resolution to restore
her money; and not only so, but I resolved I would give her something
over and above her loss. So I went forward, and by the direction I had
received, found her lodging with very little trouble. Then asking for
the woman, she came to the door immediately; for she heard me ask for
her by her name of a little girl that came first to the door. I
presently spoke to her: "Dame," said I, "was not you robbed about a
year ago, as you was coming home from London, about Pindar of
Wakefield?" "Yes, indeed I was," says she; "and sadly frighted into
the bargain." "And how much did you lose?" said I. "Indeed," says she,
"I lost all the money I had in the world. I am sure I worked hard for
it; it was money for keeping a nurse-child that I had then, and I had
been at London to receive it." "But how much was it, dame?" said I.
"Why," says she, "it was 22s. 6½d.; 21s. I had been to fetch, and the
odd money was my own before."

"Well, look you, good woman, what will you say if I should put you in
a way to get your money again? for I believe the fellow that took it
is fast enough now, and perhaps I may do you a kindness in it, and for
that I came to see you." "Oh dear!" says the old woman, "I understand
you, but indeed I cannot swear to the man's face again, for it was
dark; and, besides, I would not hang the poor wretch for my money; let
him live and repent." "That is very kind," says I--"more than he
deserves from you; but you need not be concerned about that, for he
will be hanged whether you appear against him or not; but are you
willing to have your money again that you lost?" "Yes, indeed," says
the woman, "I should be glad of that; for I have not been so hard put
to it for money a great while as I am now; I have much ado to find us
bread to eat, though I work hard early and late;" and with that she
cried.

I thought it would have broken my very heart, to think how this poor
creature worked and was a slave at near threescore, and that I, a
young fellow of hardly twenty, should rob her of her bread to support
my idleness and wicked life; and the tears came from my eyes in spite
of all my struggling to prevent it, and the woman perceived it too.
"Poor woman," said I, "'tis a sad thing such creatures as these should
plunder and strip such a poor object as thou art. Well, he is at
leisure now to repent it, I assure you." "I perceive, sir," says she,
"you are very compassionate indeed. I wish he may improve the time God
has spared him, and that he may repent, and I pray God give him
repentance. Whoever he is, I forgive him, whether he can make me
recompense or not, and I pray God forgive him. I won't do him any
prejudice, not I." And with that she went on praying for me.

"Well, dame, come hither to me," says I; and with that I put my hand
into my pocket, and she came to me. "Hold up your hand," said I; which
she did, and I told her nine half-crowns into her hand. "There, dame,"
said I, "is your 22s. 6d. you lost. I assure you, dame," said I, "I
have been the chief instrument to get it off him for you; for, ever
since he told me the story of it among the rest of his wicked
exploits, I never gave him any rest till I made him promise me to make
you restitution." All the while I held her hand and put the money into
it I looked in her face, and I perceived her colour come and go, and
that she was under the greatest surprise of joy imaginable.

"Well, God bless him," says she, "and spare him from the disaster he
is afraid of, if it be His will. For sure this is an act of so much
justice, and so honest, that I never expected the like." She run on a
great while so, and wept for him when I told her I doubted there was
no room to expect his life. "Well," says she, "then pray God give him
repentance and bring him to heaven; for sure he must have something
that is good at the bottom; he has a principle of honesty at bottom to
be sure, however he may have been brought into bad courses by bad
company or evil example, or other temptations; but I daresay he will
be brought to repentance one time or other before he dies."

All this touched me nearer than she imagined; for I was the man that
she prayed for all this while, though she did not know it, and in my
heart I said amen to it. For I was sensible that I had done one of the
vilest actions in the world in attacking a poor creature in such a
condition, and not listening to her entreaties when she begged so
heartily for that little money we took from her.

In a word, the good woman so moved me with her charitable prayers that
I put my hand in my pocket again for her: "Dame," said I, "you are so
charitable in your petitions for this miserable creature that it puts
me in mind of one thing more which I will do for him, whether he
ordered me or not; and that is, to ask your forgiveness for the thief
in robbing you. For it was an offence and a trespass against you, as
well as an injury to you; and therefore I ask your pardon for him.
Will you sincerely and heartily forgive him, dame? I do desire it of
you;" and with that I stood up, and, with my hat off, asked her
pardon. "O sir!" says she, "do not stand up, and with your hat off to
me. I am a poor woman; I forgive him, and all that were with him; for
there was one or more with him. I forgive them with all my heart, and
I pray God to forgive them."

"Well, dame, then," said I, "to make you some recompense for your
charity, there is something for you more than your loss;" and with
that I gave her a crown more.

Then I asked her who that was who was robbed with her. She said it was
a servant-maid that lived then in the town, but she was gone from her
place, and she did not know where she lived now. "Well, dame," says
I, "if ever you do hear of her, let her leave word where she may be
found; and if I live to come and see you again, I will get the money
off him for her too. I think that was but little, was it?" "No," says
she; "it was but 5s. 6d.," which I knew as well as she. "Well," says
I, "dame, inquire her out if you have an opportunity;" so she promised
me she would, and away I came.

The satisfaction this gave me was very much; but then a natural
consequence attended it, which filled me with reflection afterwards;
and this was, that, by the same rule, I ought to make restitution to
all that I had wronged in the like manner; and what could I do as to
that? To this I knew not what to say, and so the thought in time wore
off; for, in short, it was impossible to be done. I had not ability,
neither did I know any of the people whom I had so injured; and that
satisfying me for the present, I let it drop.

I come now to my journey with Captain Jacque, my supposed brother. We
set out from London on foot, and travelled the first day to Ware; for
we had learnt so much of our road that the way lay through that town.
We were weary enough the first day, having not been used at all to
travelling; but we made shift to walk once up and down the town after
we came into it.

I soon found that his walking out to see the town was not to satisfy
his curiosity in viewing the place, for he had no notion of anything
of that kind, but to see if he could light of any purchase. For he was
so natural a thief that he could see nothing on the road but it
occurred to him how easily that might be taken, and how cleverly this
might be carried off, and the like.

Nothing offered in Ware to his mind, it not being market-day; and as
for me, though I made no great scruple of eating and drinking at the
cost of his roguery, yet I resolved not to enter upon anything, as
they called it, nor to take the least thing from anybody.

When the captain found me resolved upon the negative, he asked me how
I thought to travel. I asked him what he thought of himself, that was
sure to be hanged if he was taken, how small soever the crime was that
he should be taken for. "How can that be?" says he; "they don't know
me in the country." "Ay," says I; "but do you think they do not send
up word to Newgate as soon as any thief is taken in the country, and
so inquire who is escaped from them, or who is fled, that they may be
stopped? Assure yourself," says I, "the gaolers correspond with one
another, with the greatest exactness imaginable; and if you were taken
here but for stealing a basket of eggs, you shall have your accuser
sent down to see if he knows you."

This terrified him a little for a while, and kept him honest for three
or four days; but it was but for a few days indeed, for he played a
great many rogue's tricks without me; till at last he came to his end
without me too, though it was not till many years after, as you shall
hear in its order. But as these exploits are no part of my story, but
of his, whose life and exploits are sufficient to make a volume larger
than this by itself, so I shall omit every thing but what I was
particularly concerned in during this tedious journey.

From Ware we travelled to Cambridge, though that was not our direct
road. The occasion was this: in our way, going through a village
called Puckeridge, we baited at an inn, at the sign of the Falcon, and
while we were there a countryman comes to the inn, and hangs his horse
at the door while he goes in to drink. We sat in the gateway, having
called for a mug of beer, and drank it up. We had been talking with
the hostler about the way to Scotland, and he had bid us ask the road
to Royston. "But," says he, "there is a turning just here a little
farther. You must not go that way, for that goes to Cambridge."

We had paid for our beer, and sat at the door only to rest us, when on
the sudden comes a gentleman's coach to the door, and three or four
horsemen. The horsemen rode into the yard, and the hostler was obliged
to go in with them. Says he to the captain, "Young man, pray take hold
of the horse" (meaning the countryman's horse I mentioned above),
"and take him out of the way, that the coach may come up." He did so,
and beckoned me to follow him. We walked together to the turning. Says
he to me, "Do you step before and turn up the lane. I'll overtake
you." So I went on up the lane, and in a few minutes he was got up
upon the horse and at my heels. "Come, get up," says he; "we will have
a lift, if we don't get the horse by the bargain."

I made no difficulty to get up behind him, and away we went at a good
round rate, it being a good strong horse. We lost no time for an
hour's riding and more, by which time we thought we were out of the
reach of being pursued. And as the country man, when he should miss
his horse, would hear that we inquired the way to Royston, he would
certainly pursue us that way, and not towards Cambridge. We went
easier after the first hour's riding, and coming through a town or
two, we alighted by turns, and did not ride double through the
villages.


[Image: Escaping with the purloined horse.]


Now, as it was impossible for the captain to pass by anything that he
could lay his hand on and not take it, so now, having a horse to carry
it off too, the temptation was the stronger. Going through a village
where a good housewife of the house had been washing, and hung her
clothes out upon a hedge near the road, he could not help it, but got
hold of a couple of good shirts that were but about half dry, and
overtook me upon the spur; for I walked on before. I immediately got
up behind, and away we galloped together as fast as the horse would
well go. In this part of our expedition his good luck or mine carried
us quite out of the road, and having seen nobody to ask the way of, we
lost ourselves, and wandered I know not how many miles to the right
hand, till, partly by that means and partly by the occasion following,
we came quite into the coach-road to Cambridge from London by
Bishop-Stortford. The particular occasion that made me wander on was
thus: the country was all open cornfields, no enclosures; when, being
upon a little rising ground, I bade him stop the horse, for I would
get down and walk a little to ease my legs, being tired with riding so
long behind without stirrups. When I was down and looked a little
about me, I saw plainly the great white road, which we should have
gone, at near two miles from us.

On a sudden looking a little back to my left, upon that road, I saw
four or five horsemen riding full speed, some a good way before the
others, and hurrying on, as people in a full pursuit.

It immediately struck me: "Ha! brother Jacque," says I, "get off the
horse this moment, and ask why afterwards." So he jumps off. "What is
the matter?" says he. "The matter!" says I. "Look yonder; it is well
we have lost our way. Do you see how they ride? They are pursuing us,
you may depend upon it. Either," says I, "you are pursued from the
last village for the two shirts, or from Puckeridge for the horse." He
had so much presence of mind that, without my mentioning it to him, he
puts back the horse behind a great white thorn-bush, which grew just
by him; so they could by no means see the horse, which, we being just
at the top of the hill, they might otherwise have done, and so have
pursued that way at a venture.

But as it was impossible for them to see the horse, so was it as
impossible for them to see us at that distance, who sat down on the
ground to look at them the more securely.

The road winding about, we saw them a great way, and they rode as fast
as they could make their horses go. When we found they were gone quite
out of sight, we mounted and made the best of our way also; and
indeed, though we were two upon one horse, yet we abated no speed
where the way would admit of it, not inquiring of anybody the way to
anywhere till, after about two hours' riding, we came to a town,
which, upon inquiry, they called Chesterford. And here we stopped, and
asked not our way to any place, but whither that road went, and were
told it was the coach-road to Cambridge; also that it was the way to
Newmarket, to St. Edmund's Bury, to Norwich and Yarmouth, to Lynn, and
to Ely, and the like.

We stayed here a good while, believing ourselves secure; and
afterwards, towards evening, went forward to a place called
Bournbridge, where the road to Cambridge turns away out of the road to
Newmarket, and where there are but two houses only, both of them being
inns. Here the captain says to me, "Hark ye, you see we are pursued
towards Cambridge, and shall be stopped if we go thither. Now
Newmarket is but ten miles off, and there we may be safe, and perhaps
get an opportunity to do some business."

"Look ye, Jacque," said I, "talk no more of doing business, for I will
not join with you in anything of that kind. I would fain get you to
Scotland before you get a halter about your neck. I will not have you
hanged in England, if I can help it; and therefore I won't go to
Newmarket, unless you will promise me to take no false steps there."
"Well," says he, "if I must not, then I won't; but I hope you will let
us get another horse, won't you, that we may travel faster?" "No,"
says I, "I won't agree to that; but if you will let me send this horse
back fairly, I will tell you how we shall hire horses afterwards, for
one stage, or two, and then take them as far as we please: it is only
sending a letter to the owner to send for him, and then, if we are
stopped, it can do us but little hurt."

"You are a wary, politic gentleman," says the captain, "but I say we
are better as we are; for we are out of all danger of being stopped on
the way after we are gone from this place."

We had not parleyed thus long, but, though in the dead of the night,
came a man to the other inn door--for, as I said above, there are two
inns at that place--and called for a pot of beer; but the people were
all in bed, and would not rise. He asked them if they had seen two
fellows come that way upon one horse. The man said he had, that they
went by in the afternoon, and asked the way to Cambridge, but did not
stop only to drink one mug. "Oh!" says he, "are they gone to
Cambridge? Then I'll be with them quickly." I was awake in a little
garret of the next inn, where we lodged, and hearing the fellow call
at the door, got up and went to the window, having some uneasiness at
every noise I heard; and by that means heard the whole story. Now, the
case is plain, our hour was not come, our fate had determined other
things for us, and we were to be reserved for it. The matter was thus.
When we first came to Bournbridge, we called at the first house, and
asked the way to Cambridge, drank a mug of beer and went on, and they
might see to turn off to go the way they directed. But night coming
on, and we being very weary, we thought we should not find the way;
and we came back in the dusk of the evening, and went into the other
house, being the first as we came back, as that where we called before
was the first as we went forward.

You may be sure I was alarmed now, as indeed I had reason to be. The
captain was in bed and fast asleep, but I wakened him, and roused him
with a noise that frighted him enough. "Rise, Jacque," said I; "we are
both ruined; they are come after us hither." Indeed, I was wrong to
terrify him at that rate; for he started, and jumped out of bed, and
ran directly to the window, not knowing where he was, and, not quite
awake, was just going to jump out of the window, but I laid hold of
him. "What are you going to do?" says I. "I won't be taken," says he.
"Let me alone. Where are they?"

This was all confusion; and he was so out of himself with the fright,
and being overcome with sleep, that I had much to do to prevent his
jumping out of the window. However, I held him fast, and thoroughly
wakened him, and then all was well again, and he was presently
composed.

Then I told him the story, and we sat together upon the bedside,
considering what we should do. Upon the whole, as the fellow that
called was apparently gone to Cambridge, we had nothing to fear, but
to be quiet till daybreak, and then to mount and be gone.

Accordingly, as soon as day peeped we were up; and having happily
informed ourselves of the road at the other house, and being told that
the road to Cambridge turned off on the left hand, and that the road
to Newmarket lay straight forward--I say, having learnt this, the
captain told me he would walk away on foot towards Newmarket; and so,
when I came to go out, I should appear as a single traveller. And
accordingly he went out immediately, and away he walked; and he
travelled so hard that when I came to follow, I thought once that he
had dropped me; for though I rode hard, I got no sight of him for an
hour. At length, having passed the great bank called the Devil's
Ditch, I found him, and took him up behind me, and we rode double till
we came almost to the end of Newmarket town. Just at the hither house
in the town stood a horse at a door, just as it was at Puckeridge.
"Now," says Jack, "if the horse was at the other end of the town I
would have him, as sure as we had the other at Puckeridge;" but it
would not do; so he got down and walked through the town on the
right-hand side of the way.

He had not got half through the town but the horse, having somehow or
other got loose, came trotting gently on by himself, and nobody
following him. The captain, an old soldier at such work, as soon as
the horse was got a pretty way before him, and that he saw nobody
followed, sets up a run after the horse, and the horse, hearing him
follow, ran the faster. Then the captain calls out, "Stop the horse!"
and by this time the horse was got almost to the farther end of the
town, the people of the house where he stood not missing him all the
while.

Upon his calling out, "Stop the horse!" the poor people of the town,
such as were next at hand, ran from both sides the way and stopped the
horse for him, as readily as could be, and held him for him till he
came up. He very gravely comes up to the horse, hits him a blow or
two, and calls him dog for running away, gives the man twopence that
catched him for him, mounts, and away he comes after me.

This was the oddest adventure that could have happened, for the horse
stole the captain, the captain did not steal the horse. When he came
up to me, "Now, Colonel Jacque," says he, "what say you to good luck?
Would you have had me refuse the horse, when he came so civilly to ask
me to ride?" "No, no," said I; "you have got this horse by your wit,
not by design; and you may go on now, I think. You are in a safer
condition than I am, if we are taken."

The next question was what road we should take. Here were four ways
before us, and we were alike strangers to them all. First, on the
right hand, and at about a little mile from the town, a great road
went off to St. Edmund's Bury; straight on, but in clining afterwards
to the right, lay the great road to Barton Mills and Thetford, and so
to Norwich; and full before us lay a great road, also, to Brandon and
Lynn; and on the left lay a less road to the city of Ely, and into the
fens.

In short, as we knew not which road to take, nor which way to get into
the great north road, which we had left, so we, by mere unguided
chance, took the way to Brandon, and so to Lynn. At Brand, or Brandon,
we were told that, passing over at a place called Downham Bridge, we
might cross the fen country to Wisbeach, and from thence go along that
bank of the river Nene to Peterborough, and from thence to Stamford,
where we were in the northern road again; and likewise, that at Lynn
we might go by the Washes into Lincolnshire, and so might travel
north. But, upon the whole, this was my rule, that, when we inquired
the way to any particular place, to be sure we never took that road,
but some other which the accidental discourse we might have should
bring in. And thus we did here; for, having chiefly asked our way into
the northern road, we resolved to go directly for Lynn.

We arrived here very easy and safe, and while we was considering of
what way we should travel next we found we were got to a point, and
that there was no way now left but that by the Washes into
Lincolnshire, and that was represented as very dangerous; so an
opportunity offering of a man that was travelling over the fens, we
took him for our guide, and went with him to Spalding, and from thence
to a town called Deeping, and so to Stamford in Lincolnshire.

This is a large, populous town, and it was market-day when we came to
it; so we put in at a little house at the hither end of the town, and
walked into the town.

Here it was not possible to restrain my captain from playing his feats
of art, and my heart ached for him. I told him I would not go with
him, for he would not promise, and I was so terribly concerned at the
apprehensions of his venturous humour that I would not so much as stir
out of my lodging; but it was in vain to persuade him. He went into
the market, and found a mountebank there, which was what he wanted.
How he picked two pockets there in one quarter of an hour, and brought
to our quarters a piece of new holland of eight or nine ells, a piece
of stuff, and played three or four pranks more in less than two hours;
and how afterward he robbed a doctor of physic, and yet came off
clear in them all--this, I say, as above, belongs to his story, not
mine.

I scolded heartily at him when he came back, and told him he would
certainly ruin himself, and me too, before he left off, and threatened
in so many words that I would leave him, and go back and carry the
horse to Puckeridge where we borrowed it, and so go to London by
myself.

He promised amendment; but as we resolved (now we were in the great
road) to travel by night, so it being not yet night, he gives me the
slip again, and was not gone half-an-hour but he comes back with a
gold watch in his hand: "Come," says he, "why ain't you ready to go? I
am ready to go as soon as you will;" and with that he pulls out the
gold watch. I was amazed at such a thing as that in a country town;
but it seems there was prayers at one of the churches in the evening,
and he, placing himself as the occasion directed, found the way to be
so near the lady as to get it from her side, and walked off with it
unperceived.

The same night we went away by moonlight, after having the
satisfaction to hear the watch cried, and ten guineas offered for it
again. He would have been glad of the ten guineas instead of the
watch, but durst not venture carry it home. "Well," says I, "you are
afraid, and you have reason. Give it me; I will venture to carry it
again." But he would not let me, but told me that when he came into
Scotland we might sell anything there without danger; which was true
indeed, for there they asked us no questions.

We set out, as I said, in the evening by moon light, and travelled
hard, the road being very plain and large, till we came to Grantham,
by which time it was about two in the morning, and all the town, as it
were, dead asleep. So we went on for Newark, where we reached about
eight in the morning, and there we lay down and slept most of the day;
and by this sleeping so continually in the day-time I kept him from
doing a great deal of mischief, which he would otherwise have done.

From Newark we took advice of one that was accidentally comparing the
roads, and we concluded that the road by Nottingham would be the best
for us; so we turned out of the great road, and went up the side of
the Trent to Nottingham. Here he played his pranks again in a manner
that it was the greatest wonder imaginable to me that he was not
surprised, and yet he came off clear. And now he had got so many bulky
goods that he bought him a portmanteau to carry them in. It was in
vain for me to offer to restrain him any more; so after this he went
on his own way.

At Nottingham, I say, he had such success that made us the hastier to
be going than otherwise we would have been, lest we would have been
baulked, and should be laid hold of. From thence we left the road,
which leads to the north again, and went away by Mansfield into
Scarsdale, in Yorkshire.

I shall take up no more of my own story with his pranks; they very
well merit to be told by themselves. But I shall observe only what
relates to our journey. In a word, I dragged him along as fast as I
could, till I came to Leeds, in Yorkshire. Here, though it be a large
and populous town, yet he could make nothing of it; neither had he any
success at Wakefield; and he told me, in short, that the north-country
people were certainly all thieves. "Why so?" said I. "The people seem
to be just as other people are." "No, no," says he; "they have their
eyes so about them, and are all so sharp, they look upon everybody
that comes near them to be a pickpocket, or else they would never
stand so upon their guard. And then again," says he, "they are so
poor, there is but little to be got; and I am afraid," says he, "the
farther we go north, we shall find it worse." "Well," says I, "what do
you infer from thence?" "I argue from thence," says he, "that we shall
do nothing there, and I had as good go back into the south and be
hanged as into the north to be starved."

Well, we came at length to Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Here, on a market-day,
was a great throng of people, and several of the townspeople going to
market to buy provisions; and here he played his pranks, cheated a
shopkeeper of £15 or £16 in goods, and got clear away with them; stole
a horse, and sold that he came upon, and played so many pranks that I
was quite frighted for him. I say for him, for I was not concerned for
myself, having never stirred out of the house where I lodged--at least
not with him, nor without some or other with me belonging to the inn
that might give an account of me.

Nor did I use this caution in vain; for he had made himself so public
by his rogueries that he was waylaid everywhere to be taken, and had
he not artfully at first given out that he was come from Scotland and
was going toward London, inquiring that road, and the like, which
amused his pursuers for the first day, he had been taken, and in all
probability had been hanged there. But by that artifice he got half a
day's time of them; and yet, as it was, he was put so to it that he
was fain to plunge, horse and all, into the river Tweed, and swim
over, and thereby made his escape. It was true that he was before upon
Scots ground (as they call it), and consequently they had no power to
have carried him off, if anybody had opposed them; yet, as they were
in a full chase after him, could they have come up with him they would
have run the risk of the rest, and they could but have delivered him
up if they had been questioned about it. However, as he got over the
Tweed, and was landed safe, they could neither follow him, the water
being too high at the usual place of going over, nor could they have
attempted to have brought him away if they had taken him. The place
where he took the river was where there is a ford below Kelso, but the
water being up, the ford was not passable, and he had no time to go to
the ferry-boat, which is about a furlong off, opposite to the town.

Having thus made his escape, he went to Kelso, where he had appointed
me to come after him. I followed with a heavy heart, expecting every
hour to meet him upon the road in the custody of the constables and
such people, or to hear of him in the gaol; but when I came to a place
on the border called Woller-haugh-head, there I understood how he had
been chased, and how he made his escape.

When I came to Kelso he was easy enough to be found; for his having
desperately swam the Tweed, a rapid and large river, made him much
talked of, though it seems they had not heard of the occasion of it,
nor anything of his character; for he had wit enough to conceal all
that, and live as retired as he could till I came to him.

I was not so much rejoiced at his safety as I was provoked at his
conduct; and the more, for that I could not find he had yet the least
notion of his having been void of common-sense with respect to his
circumstances, as well as contrary to what he promised me. However, as
there was no beating anything into his head by words, I only told him
that I was glad he was at last gotten into a place of safety, and I
asked him then how he intended to manage himself in that country. He
said in few words he did not know yet. He doubted the people were very
poor; but if they had any money he was resolved to have some of it.

"But do you know, too," says I, "that they are the severest people
upon criminals of your kind in the world?" He did not value that, he
said, in his blunt, short way; he would venture it. Upon this I told
him that, seeing it was so, and he would run such ventures, I would
take my leave of him and be gone back to England. He seemed sullen, or
rather it was the roughness of his untractable disposition. He said I
might do what I would, he would do as he found opportunity. However,
we did not part immediately, but went on towards the capital city. On
the road we found too much poverty and too few people to give him room
to expect any advantage in his way; and though he had his eyes about
him as sharp as a hawk, yet he saw plainly there was nothing to be
done; for as to the men, they did not seem to have much money about
them; and for the women, their dress was such that, had they any
money, or indeed any pockets, it was impossible to come at them; for,
wearing large plaids about them and down to their knees, they were
wrapped up so close that there was no coming to make the least attempt
of that kind.

Kelso was indeed a good town, and had abundance of people in it; and
yet, though he stayed one Sunday there, and saw the church, which is
very large and thronged with people, yet, as he told me, there was not
one woman to be seen in all the church with any other dress than a
plaid, except in two pews, which belonged to some nobleman, and who,
when they came out, were so surrounded with footmen and servants that
there was no coming near them, any more than there was any coming near
the king surrounded by his guards.

We set out, therefore, with this discouragement, which I was secretly
glad of, and went forward to Edinburgh. All the way thither we went
through no considerable town, and it was but very coarse travelling
for us, who were strangers; for we met with waters which were very
dangerous to pass, by reason of hasty rains, at a place called
Lauderdale, and where my captain was really in danger of drowning, his
horse being driven down by the stream, and fell under him, by which he
wetted and spoiled his stolen goods that he brought from Newcastle,
and which he had kept dry strangely, by holding them up in his arms
when he swam the Tweed. But here it wanted but little that he and his
horse had been lost, not so much by the depth of the water as the fury
of the current. But he had a proverb in his favour, and he got out of
the water, though with difficulty enough, not being born to be
drowned, as I shall observe afterwards in its place.

We came to Edinburgh the third day from Kelso, having stopped at an
inn one whole day, at a place called Soutrahill, to dry our goods and
refresh ourselves. We were oddly saluted at Edinburgh. The next day
after we came thither, my captain having a desire to walk and look
about him, asked me if I would go and see the town. I told him yes; so
we went out, and coming through a gate that they call the Nether Bow,
into the great High Street, which went up to the Cross, we were
surprised to see it thronged with an infinite number of people. "Ay,"
says my captain, "this will do." However, as I had made him promise to
make no adventures that day, otherwise I told him I would not go out
with him, so I held him by the sleeve, and would not let him stir from
me.

Then we came up to the Market Cross, and there besides the great
number of people who passed and repassed, we saw a great parade or
kind of meeting, like an exchange of gentlemen, of all ranks and
qualities, and this encouraged my captain again, and he pleased
himself with that sight.

It was while we were looking, and wondering at what we saw here, that
we were surprised with a sight which we little expected. We observed
the people running on a sudden, as to see some strange thing just
coming along; and strange it was indeed: for we see two men naked from
the waist upwards run by us as swift as the wind, and we imagined
nothing but that it was two men running a race for some mighty wager.
On a sudden we found two long, small ropes or lines, which hung down
at first, pulled straight, and the two racers stopped, and stood
still, one close by the other. We could not imagine what this meant,
but the reader may judge at our surprise when we found a man follow
after, who had the ends of both those lines in his hands, and who,
when he came up to them, gave each of them two frightful lashes with a
wire whip or lash, which he held in the other hand. And then the two
poor naked wretches run on again to the length of their line or
tether, where they waited for the like salutation; and in this
manner they danced the length of the whole street, which is about
half-a-mile.

This was a dark prospect to my captain, and put him in mind, not only
of what he was to expect if he made a slip in the way of his
profession in this place, but also of what he had suffered when he was
but a boy, at the famous place called Bridewell.

But this was not all; for, as we saw the execution, so we were curious
to examine into the crime too; and we asked a young fellow who stood
near us what the two men had done for which they suffered that
punishment. The fellow, an unhappy, ill-natured Scotchman, perceived
by our speech that we were Englishmen, and by our question that we
were strangers, told us, with a malicious wit, that they were two
Englishmen, and that they were whipped so for picking pockets, and
other petty thieveries, and that they were afterwards to be sent away
over the border into England.

Now this was every word of it false, and was only formed by his nimble
invention to insult us as Englishmen; for when we inquired further,
they were both Scotchmen, and were thus scourged for the usual
offences for which we give the like punishment in England. And the man
who held the line and scourged them was the city hangman, who (by the
way) is there an officer of note, has a constant salary, and is a man
of substance; and not only so, but a most dexterous fellow in his
office, and makes a great deal of money of his employment.

This sight, however, was very shocking to us; and my captain turned to
me: "Come," says he, "let us go away; I won't stay here any longer." I
was glad to hear him say so, but did not think he had meant or
intended what he said. However, we went back to our quarters, and kept
pretty much within, only that in the evenings we walked about. But
even then my captain found no employment, no encouragement. Two or
three times, indeed, he made a prize of some mercery and millinery
goods; but when he had them he knew not what to do with them, so that,
in short, he was forced to be honest in spite of his goodwill to be
otherwise.

We remained here about a month, when, on a sudden, my captain was
gone, horse and all, and I knew nothing what was become of him. Nor
did I ever see or hear of him for eighteen months after, nor did he so
much as leave the least notice for me, either whither he was gone or
whether he would return to Edinburgh again or no.

I took his leaving me very heinously, not knowing what to do with
myself, being a stranger in the place; and, on the other hand, my
money abated apace too. I had for the most part of this time my horse
upon my hands to keep; and as horses yield but a sorry price in
Scotland, I found no opportunity to make much of him; and, on the
other hand, I had a secret resolution, if I had gone back to England,
to have restored him to the owner, at Puckeridge, by Ware. And so I
should have wronged him of nothing but the use of him for so long a
time; but I found an occasion to answer all my designs about the horse
to advantage.

There came a man to the stabler--so they call the people at Edinburgh
that take in horses to keep--and wanted to know if he could hear of
any returned horses for England. My landlord, so we called him, came
bluntly to me one day, and asked me if my horse was my own. It was an
odd question, as my circumstances stood, and puzzled me at first; and
I asked why, and what was the matter. "Because," says he, "if it be a
hired horse in England, as is often the case with Englishmen who come
to Scotland, I could help you to send it back, and get you something
for riding." So he expressed himself.

I was very glad of the occasion, and, in short, took security there of
the person for delivering the horse safe and sound, and had 15s.
sterling for the riding him. Upon this agreement, I gave order to
leave the horse at the Falcon, at Puckeridge, and where I heard, many
years after, that he was honestly left, and that the owner had him
again, but had nothing for the loan of him.

Being thus eased of the expense of my horse, and having nothing at all
to do, I began to consider with myself what would become of me, and
what I could turn my hand to. I had not much diminished my stock of
money, for though I was all the way so wary that I would not join with
my captain in his desperate attempts, yet I made no scruple to live at
his expense, which, as I came out of England only to keep him company,
had been but just, had I not known that all he had to spend upon me
was what he robbed honest people of, and that I was all that while a
receiver of stolen goods. But I was not come off so far then as to
scruple that part at all.

In the next place, I was not so anxious about my money running low,
because I knew what a reserve I had made at London. But still I was
very willing to have engaged in any honest employment for a
livelihood, for I was sick indeed of the wandering life which I had
led, and was resolved to thieve no more. But then two or three things
which I had offered me I lost, because I could not write or read.

This afflicted me a great while very much; but the stabler, as I have
called him, delivered me from my anxiety that way by bringing me to an
honest but a poor young man, who undertook to teach me both to write
and read, and in a little time too, and for a small expense, if I
would take pains at it. I promised all possible diligence, and to work
I went with it, but found the writing much more difficult to me than
the reading.

However, in half a year's time, or thereabouts, I could read, and
write too, tolerably well, insomuch that I began to think I was now
fit for business. And I got by it into the service of a certain
officer of the customs, who employed me for a time; but as he set me
to do little but pass and repass between Leeds and Edinburgh, with the
accounts which he kept for the farmers of the customs there, leaving
me to live at my own expense till my wages should be due, I run out
the little money I had left, in clothes and subsistence, and a little
before the year's end, when I was to have £12 English money, truly my
master was turned out of his place; and, which was worse, having been
charged with some misapplications, was obliged to take shelter in
England, and so we that were servants, for there were three of us,
were left to shift for ourselves.

This was a hard case for me in a strange place, and I was reduced by
it to the last extremity. I might have gone for England, an English
ship being there. The master proffered me to give me my passage (upon
telling him my distress), and to take my word for the payment of 10s.
when I came there. But my captain appeared just then under new
circumstances, which obliged him not to go away, and I was loth to
leave him. It seems we were yet further to take our fate together.

I have mentioned that he left me, and that I saw him no more for
eighteen months. His rambles and adventures were many in that time. He
went to Glasgow, played some remarkable pranks there, escaped almost
miraculously from the gallows; got over to Ireland, wandered about
there, turned raparee, and did some villainous things there, and
escaped from Londonderry, over to the Highlands in the north of
Scotland; and about a month before I was left destitute at Leith by my
master, behold! my noble Captain Jacque came in there, on board the
ferry-boat from Fife, being, after all adventures and successes,
advanced to the dignity of a foot-soldier in a body of recruits raised
in the north for the regiment of Douglas.

After my disaster, being reduced almost as low as my captain, I found
no better shift before me, at least for the present, than to enter
myself a soldier too; and thus we were ranked together, with each of
us a musket upon our shoulders; and I confess that thing did not sit
so ill upon me as I thought at first it would have done; for though I
fared hard and lodged ill (for the last, especially, is the fate of
poor soldiers in that part of the world), yet to me that had been used
to lodge on the ashes in the glass house, this was no great matter. I
had a secret satisfaction at being now under no necessity of stealing,
and living in fear of a prison, and of the lash of the hangman--a
thing which, from the time I saw it in Edinburgh, was so terrible to
me that I could not think of it without horror. And it was an
inexpressible ease to my mind that I was now in a certain way of
living, which was honest, and which I could say was not unbecoming a
gentleman.

Whatever was my satisfaction in that part, yet other circumstances did
not equally concur to make this life suit me; for after we had been
about six months in this figure, we were informed that the recruits
were all to march for England, and to be shipped off at Newcastle, or
at Hull, to join the regiment, which was then in Flanders.

I should tell you that, before this, I was extremely delighted with
the life of a soldier, and I took the exercise so naturally that the
sergeant that taught us to handle our arms, seeing me so ready at it,
asked me if I had never carried arms before. I told him no; at which
he swore, though jesting. "They call you colonel," says he, "and I
believe you will be a colonel, or you must be some colonel's bastard,
or you would never handle your arms as you do, at once or twice
showing."

This pleased me extremely, and encouraged me, and I was mightily taken
with the life of a soldier; but when my captain came and told me the
news, that we were to march for England, and to be shipped off for
Flanders at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, I was surprised very much, and new
thoughts began to come in my mind; as, first, my captain's condition
was particular, for he durst not appear publicly at Newcastle, as he
must have done if he had marched with the battalion (for they were a
body of above four hundred, and therefore called themselves a
battalion, though we were but recruits, and belonged to several
companies abroad)--I say, he must have marched with them, and been
publicly seen, in which case he would have been apprehended and
delivered up. In the next place I remembered that I had almost £100 in
money in London, and if it should have been asked all the soldiers in
the regiment which of them would go to Flanders a private sentinel if
they had £100 in their pockets, I believe none of them would answer in
the affirmative--£100 being at that time sufficient to buy colours in
any new regiment, though not in that regiment, which was on an old
establishment. This whetted my ambition, and I dreamt of nothing but
being a gentleman officer, as well as a gentleman soldier.

These two circumstances concurring, I began to be very uneasy, and
very unwilling in my thoughts to go over a poor musqueteer into
Flanders, to be knocked on the head at the tune of 3s. 6d. a week.
While I was daily musing on the circumstances of being sent away, as
above, and considering what to do, my captain comes to me one evening:
"Hark ye, Jacque," says he, "I must speak with you; let us take a walk
in the fields a little out from the houses." We were quartered at a
place called Park End, near the town of Dunbar, about twenty miles
from Berwick-upon-Tweed, and about sixteen miles from the river Tweed,
the nearest way.

We walked together here, and talked seriously upon the matter. The
captain told me how his case stood, and that he durst not march with
the battalion into Newcastle; that if he did he should be taken out of
the ranks and tried for his life, and that I knew as well as he. "I
could go privately to Newcastle," says he, "and go through the town
well enough, but to go publicly is to run into the jaws of
destruction." "Well," says I, "that is very true; but what will you
do?" "Do!" says he. "Do you think I am so bound by honour, as a
gentleman soldier, that I will be hanged for them? No, no," says he;
"I am resolved to be gone, and I would have you go with us." Said I,
"What do you mean by us?" "Why, here is another honest fellow, an
Englishman also," says he, "that is resolved to desert too, and he has
been a long while in their service, and says he knows how we shall be
used abroad, and he will not go to Flanders, says he, not he."

"Why," says I, "you will be shot to death for deserters if you are
taken, and they will send out scouts for you in the morning all over
the country, so that you will certainly fall into their hands." "As
for that," says he, "my comrade is thoroughly acquainted with the way,
and he has undertaken to bring us to the banks of the Tweed before
they can come up with us; and when we are on the other side of the
Tweed, they can't take us up."

"And when would you go away?" says I.

"This minute," says he; "no time to be lost; 'tis a fine moonshining
night."

"I have none of my baggage," says I; "let me go back and fetch my
linen and other things."

"Your linen is not much, I suppose," says he, "and we shall easily get
more in England the old way."

"No," says I, "no more of your old ways. It has been owing to those
old ways that we are now in such a strait."

"Well, well," says he, "the old ways are better than this starving
life of a gentleman, as we call it."

"But," says I, "we have no money in our pockets. How shall we travel?"

"I have a little," says the captain, "enough to help us on to
Newcastle; and if we can get none by the way, we will get some
collier-ship to take us in and carry us to London by sea."

"I like that the best of all the measures you have laid yet," said I;
and so I consented to go, and went off with him immediately. The
cunning rogue, having lodged his comrade a mile off under the hills,
had dragged me by talking with him, by little and little, that way,
till just when I consented he was in sight, and he said, "Look,
there's my comrade!" who I knew presently, having seen him among the
men.

Being thus gotten under the hills, and a mile off the way, and the day
just shut in, we kept on apace, resolving, if possible, to get out of
the reach of our pursuers before they should miss us or know anything
of our being gone.

We plied our time so well and travelled so hard that by five o'clock
in the morning, we were at a little village whose name I forget; but
they told us that we were within eight miles of the Tweed, and that as
soon as we should be over the river we were on English ground.

We refreshed a little here, but marched on with but little stay.
However, it was half-an-hour past eight in the morning before we
reached the Tweed, so it was at least twelve miles, when they told us
it was but eight. Here we overtook two more of the same regiment, who
had deserted from Haddington, where another part of the recruits were
quartered.

Those were Scotchmen, and very poor, having not one penny in their
pockets, and had no more when they made their escape but 8s. between
them. And when they saw us, whom they knew to be of the same regiment
they took us to be pursuers, and that we came to lay hold of them;
upon which they stood upon their defence, having the regiment swords
on, as we had also, but none of the mounting or clothing; for we were
not to receive the clothing till we came to the regiment in Flanders.

It was not long before we made them understand that we were in the
same circumstances with themselves, and so we soon became one company;
and after resting some time on the English side of the river (for we
were heartily tired, and the others were as much fatigued as we
were)--I say, after resting awhile, we set forwards towards Newcastle,
whither we resolved to go to get our passage by sea to London; for we
had not money to hold us out any farther.

Our money was ebbed very low; for though I had one piece of gold in my
pocket, which I kept reserved for the last extremity, yet it was but
half-a-guinea, and my captain had bore all our charges as far as his
money would go, so that when we came to Newcastle we had but sixpence
left in all to help ourselves, and the two Scots had begged their way
all along the road.

We contrived to come into Newcastle in the dusk of the evening, and
even then we durst not venture into the public part of the town, but
made down towards the river, something below the town, where some
glass-houses stand. Here we knew not what to do with ourselves; but,
guided by our fate, we put a good face upon the matter, and went into
an alehouse, sat down, and called for a pint of beer.

The house was kept by a woman only--that is to say, we saw no other;
and as she appeared very frank and entertained us cheerfully, we at
last told our condition, and asked her if she could not help us to
some kind master of a collier that would give us a passage to London
by sea. The subtle devil, who immediately found us proper fish for her
hook, gave us the kindest words in the world, and told us she was
heartily sorry she had not seen us one day sooner; that there was a
collier-master, of her particular acquaintance, that went away but
with the morning tide; that the ship was fallen down to Shields, but
she believed was hardly over the bar yet, and she would send to his
house and see if he was gone on board; for sometimes the masters do
not go away till a tide after the ship, and she was sure, if he was
not gone, she could prevail with him to take us all in; but then she
was afraid we must go on board immediately, the same night.

We begged her to send to his house, for we knew not what to do, and if
she could oblige him to take us on board, we did not care what time of
night it was; for, as we had no money, we had no lodging, and we
wanted nothing but to be on board.

We looked upon this as a mighty favour, that she sent to the master's
house, and, to our greater joy, she brought us word about an hour
after that he was not gone, and was at a tavern in the town, whither
his boy had been to fetch him, and that he had sent word he would call
there in the way home.

This was all in our favour, and we were extremely pleased with it.
About an hour after, the landlady being in the room with us, her maid
brings us word the master was below. So down she goes to him, telling
us she would go and tell him our case, and see to persuade him to take
us all on board. After some time she comes up with him, and brings him
into the room to us. "Where are these honest gentlemen soldiers," says
he, "that are in such distress?" We stood all up, and paid our
respects to him. "Well, gentlemen, and is all your money spent?"

"Indeed it is," said one of our company, "and we shall be infinitely
obliged to you, sir, if you will give us a passage. We will be very
willing to do anything we can in the ship, though we are not seamen."

"Why," says he, "were none of you ever at sea in your lives?"

"No," says we, "not one of us."

"You will be able to do me no service, then," says he; "for you will
be all sick. Well, however," says he, "for my good landlady's sake
here, I'll do it; but are you all ready to go on board, for I go on
board this very night?"

"Yes, sir," says we again; "we are ready to go this minute."

"No, no," says he very kindly; "we'll drink together. Come, landlady,"
says he, "make these honest gentlemen a sneaker of punch."

We looked at one another, for we knew we had no money, and he
perceived it. "Come, come," says he, "don't be concerned at your
having no money; my landlady here and I never part with dry lips.
Come, goodwife," says he, "make the punch as I bid you."

We thanked him and said, "God bless you, noble captain," a hundred
times over, being overjoyed with such good luck. While we were
drinking the punch he calls the landlady: "Come," says he, "I'll step
home and take my things, and bid them good-bye, and order the boat to
come at high water and take me up here. And pray, goodwife," says he,
"get me something for supper. Sure, if I can give these honest men
their passage, I may give them a bit of victuals too; it may be they
han't had much for dinner."

With this away he went, and in a little while we heard the jack
a-going; and one of us, going down stairs for a spy, brought us word
there was a good leg of mutton at the fire. In less than an hour our
captain came again, and came up to us, and blamed us that we had not
drank all the punch out. "Come," says he, "don't be bashful; when that
is out we can have another. When I am obliging poor men, I love to do
it handsomely."

We drank on, and drank the punch out, and more was brought up, and he
pushed it about apace; and then came up a leg of mutton, and I need
not say that we ate heartily, being told several times that we should
pay nothing. After supper was done he bids my landlady ask if the boat
was come. And she brought word no; it was not high water by a good
deal. "No!" says he. "Well, then, give us some more punch." So more
punch was brought in, and, as was afterwards confessed, something was
put into it, or more brandy than ordinary, and by that time the punch
was drunk out we were all very drunk; and as for me, I was asleep.

About the time that was out we were told the boat was come; so we
tumbled out, almost over one another, into the boat, and away we went,
and our captain in the boat. Most of us, if not all, fell asleep, till
after some time, though how much or how far going we knew not, the
boat stopped, and we were waked and told we were at the ship's side,
which was true; and with much help and holding us, for fear we should
fall overboard, we were all gotten into the ship. All I remember of it
was this, that as soon as we were on board our captain, as we called
him, called out thus: "Here, boatswain, take care of these gentlemen,
and give them good cabins, and let them turn in and go to sleep, for
they are very weary;" and so indeed we were, and very drunk too, being
the first time I had ever drank punch in my life.

Well, care was taken of us according to order, and we were put into
very good cabins, where we were sure to go immediately to sleep. In
the meantime the ship, which was indeed just ready to go, and only on
notice given had come to an anchor for us at Shields, weighed, stood
over the bar, and went off to sea; and when we waked, and began to
peep abroad, which was not till near noon the next day, we found
ourselves a great way at sea; the land in sight, indeed, but at a
great distance, and all going merrily on for London, as we understood
it. We were very well used and well satisfied with our condition for
about three days, when we began to inquire whether we were not almost
come, and how much longer it would be before we should come into the
river. "What river?" says one of the men. "Why, the Thames," says my
Captain Jacque. "The Thames!" says the seaman. "What do you mean by
that? What, han't you had time enough to be sober yet?" So Captain
Jacque said no more, but looked about him like a fool; when, a while
after, some other of us asked the like question, and the seaman, who
knew nothing of the cheat, began to smell a trick, and turning to the
other Englishman that came with us, "Pray," says he, "where do you
fancy you are going, that you ask so often about it?" "Why, to
London," says he. "Where should we be going? We agreed with the
captain to carry us to London." "Not with the captain," says he, "I
dare say. Poor men! you are all cheated; and I thought so when I saw
you come aboard with that kidnapping rogue Gilliman. Poor men!" adds
he, "you are all be trayed. Why, you are going to Virginia, and the
ship is bound to Virginia."

The Englishman falls a-storming and raving like a madman, and we
gathering round him, let any man guess, if they can, what was our
surprise and how we were confounded when we were told how it was. In
short, we drew our swords and began to lay about us, and made such a
noise and hurry in the ship that at last the seamen were obliged to
call out for help. The captain commanded us to be disarmed in the
first place, which was not, however, done without giving and receiving
some wounds, and afterwards he caused us to be brought to him into the
great cabin.

Here he talked very calmly to us, that he was really very sorry for
what had befallen us; that he perceived we had been trepanned, and
that the fellow who had brought us on board was a rogue that was
employed by a sort of wicked merchants not unlike himself; that he
supposed he had been represented to us as captain of the ship, and
asked us if it was not so. We told him yes, and gave him a large
account of ourselves, and how we came to the woman's house to inquire
for some master of a collier to get a passage to London, and that this
man engaged to carry us to London in his own ship, and the like, as is
related above.

He told us he was very sorry for it, and he had no hand in it; but it
was out of his power to help us, and let us know very plainly what our
condition was; namely, that we were put on board his ship as servants
to be delivered at Maryland to such a man, whom he named to us; but
that, however, if we would be quiet and orderly in the ship, he would
use us well in the passage, and take care we should be used well when
we came there, and that he would do anything for us that lay in his
power; but if we were unruly and refractory, we could not expect but
he must take such measures as to oblige us to be satisfied; and that,
in short, we must be handcuffed, carried down between the decks and
kept as prisoners, for it was his business to take care that no
disturbance must be in the ship.

My captain raved like a madman, swore at the captain, told him he
would not fail to cut his throat, either on board or ashore, whenever
he came within his reach; and that, if he could not do it now, he
would do it after he came to England again, if ever he durst show his
face there again. For he might depend upon it, if he was carried away
to Virginia, he should find his way to England again; that, if it was
twenty years after, he would have satisfaction of him. "Well, young
man," says the captain, smiling, "'tis very honestly said, and then I
must take care of you while I have you here, and afterwards I must
take care of myself." "Do your worst," says Jacque boldly; "I'll pay
you home for it one time or other." "I must venture that, young man,"
says he, still calmly, "but for the present you and I must talk a
little;" so he bids the boatswain, who stood near him, secure him,
which he did. I spoke to him to be easy and patient, and that the
captain had no hand in our misfortune.

"No hand in it! D--n him," said he aloud, "do you think he is not
confederate in this villainy? Would any honest man receive innocent
people on board his ship and not inquire of their circumstances, but
carry them away and not speak to them? And now he knows how
barbarously we are treated, why does he not set us on shore again? I
tell you he is a villain, and none but him. Why does he not complete
his villainy and murder us, and then he will be free from our revenge?
But nothing else shall ever deliver him from my hands but sending us
to the d--l, or going thither himself; and I am honester in telling
him so fairly than he has been to me, and am in no passion any more
than he is."

The captain was, I say, a little shocked at his boldness, for he
talked a great deal more of the same kind, with a great deal of spirit
and fire, and yet without any disorder in his temper. Indeed I was
surprised at it, for I never had heard him talk so well and so much to
the purpose in my life. The captain was, I say, a little shocked at
it. However, he talked very handsomely to him, and said to him, "Look
ye, young man, I bear with you the more because I am sensible your
case is very hard; and yet I cannot allow your threatening me neither,
and you oblige me by that to be severer with you than I intended.
However, I will do nothing to you but what your threatening my life
makes necessary." The boatswain called out to have him to the geers,
as they called it, and to have him taste the cat-o'-nine-tails--all
which were terms we did not understand till afterwards, when we were
told he should have been whipped and pickled, for they said it was not
to be suffered. But the captain said, "No, no; the young man has been
really injured, and has reason to be very much provoked; but I have
not injured him," says he. And then he protested he had no hand in it,
that he was put on board, and we also, by the owner's agent, and for
their account; that it was true that they did always deal in servants,
and carried a great many every voyage, but that it was no profit to
him as commander; but they were always put on board by the owners, and
that it was none of his business to inquire about them; and, to prove
that he was not concerned in it, but was very much troubled at so base
a thing, and that he would not be instrumental to carry us away
against our wills, if the wind and the weather would permit, he would
set us on shore again, though, as it blowed then, the wind being at
south-west and a hard gale, and that they were already as far as the
Orkneys, it was impossible.

But the captain was the same man. He told him that, let the wind blow
how it would, he ought not to carry us away against our consent; and
as to his pretences of his owners and the like, it was saying of
nothing to him, for it was he, the captain, that carried us away, and
that, whatever rogue trepanned us on board, now he knew it, he ought
no more to carry us away than murder us; and that he demanded to be
set on shore, or else he, the captain, was a thief and a murderer.

The captain continued mild still; and then I put in with an argument
that had like to have brought us all back, if the weather had not
really hindered it; which, when I came to understand sea affairs
better, I found was indeed so, and that it had been impossible. I told
the captain that I was sorry that my brother was so warm, but that our
usage was villainous, which he could not deny. Then I took up the air
of what my habit did not agree with. I told him that we were not
people to be sold for slaves, that though we had the misfortune to be
in a circumstance that obliged us to conceal ourselves, having
disguised ourselves to get out of the army, as being not willing to go
into Flanders, yet that we were men of substance, and able to
discharge ourselves from the service when it came to that; and, to
convince him of it, I told him I would give him sufficient security to
pay £20 apiece for my brother and myself; and in as short time as we
could send from the place he should put into London, and receive a
return. And, to show that I was able to do it, I pulled out my bill
for £94 from the gentleman of the custom-house, and who, to my
infinite satisfaction, he knew as soon as he saw the bill. He was
astonished at this, and, lifting up his hands, "By what witchcraft,"
says he, "were ye brought hither!"

"As to that," says I, "we have told you the story, and we add nothing
to it; but we insist upon it that you will do this justice to us now."
"Well," says he, "I am very sorry for it, but I cannot answer putting
back the ship; neither, if I could," says he, "is it practicable to be
done."

While this discourse lasted the two Scotchmen and the other Englishman
were silent; but as I seemed to acquiesce, the Scotchmen began to talk
to the same purpose, which I need not repeat, and had not mentioned
but for a merry passage that followed. After the Scotchmen had
said all they could, and the captain still told them they must
submit,--"And will you then carry us to Virginia?" "Yes," says the
captain. "And will we be sold," says the Scotchman, "when we come
there?" "Yes," says the captain. "Why then, sir," says the Scotchman,
"the devil will have you at the hinder end of the bargain." "Say you
so," says the captain, smiling. "Well, well, let the devil and I alone
to agree about that; do you be quiet and behave civilly, as you should
do, and you shall be used as kindly, both here and there too, as I
can." The poor Scotchmen could say little to it, nor I, nor any of us;
for we saw there was no remedy but to leave the devil and the captain
to agree among themselves, as the captain had said, as to the honesty
of it.

Thus, in short, we were all, I say, obliged to acquiesce but my
captain, who was so much the more obstinate when he found that I had a
fund to make such an offer upon; nor could all my persuasions prevail
with him. The captain of the ship and he had many pleasant dialogues
about this in the rest of the voyage, in which Jacque never treated
him with any language but that of kidnapper and villain, nor talked of
anything but of taking his revenge of him. But I omit that part,
though very diverting, as being no part of my own story.

In short, the wind continued to blow hard, though very fair, till, as
the seamen said, we were past the islands on the north of Scotland,
and that we began to steer away westerly (which I came to understand
since). As there was no land any way for many hundred leagues, so we
had no remedy but patience, and to be easy as we could; only my surly
Captain Jacque continued the same man all the way.

We had a very good voyage, no storms all the way, and a northerly wind
almost twenty days together; so that, in a word, we made the capes of
Virginia in two-and-thirty days from the day we steered west, as I
have said, which was in the latitude of 60 degrees 30 minutes, being
to the north of the isle of Great Britain; and this, they said, was a
very quick passage.

Nothing material happened to me during the voyage; and indeed, when I
came there, I was obliged to act in so narrow a compass that nothing
very material could present itself.

When we came ashore, which was in a great river which they call
Potomac, the captain asked us, but me more particularly, whether I had
anything to propose to him now. Jacque answered, "Yes, I have
something to propose to you, captain; that is, that I have promised
you to cut your throat, and depend upon it I will be as good as my
word." "Well, well," says the captain, "if I can't help it, you
shall;" so he turned away to me. I understood him very well what he
meant; but I was now out of the reach of any relief; and as for my
note, it was now but a bit of paper of no value, for nobody could
receive it but myself. I saw no remedy, and so talked coldly to him of
it as of a thing I was indifferent about; and indeed I was grown
indifferent, for I considered all the way on the voyage, that as I was
bred a vagabond, had been a pickpocket and a soldier, and was run from
my colours, and that I had no settled abode in the world, nor any
employ to get anything by, except that wicked one I was bred to, which
had the gallows at the heels of it, I did not see but that this
service might be as well to me as other business. And this I was
particularly satisfied with when they told me that after I had served
out the five years' servitude I should have the courtesy of the
country (as they called it); that is, a certain quantity of land to
cultivate and plant for myself. So that now I was like to be brought
up to something by which I might live, without that wretched thing
called stealing, which my very soul abhorred, and which I had given
over, as I have said, ever since that wicked time that I robbed the
poor widow of Kentish Town.

In this mind I was when I arrived at Virginia; and so, when the
captain inquired of me what I intended to do, and whether I had
anything to propose--that is to say, he meant whether I would give him
my bill, which he wanted to be fingering very much--I answered coldly,
my bill would be of no use to me now, for nobody would advance
anything upon it. Only this I would say to him, that if he would carry
me and Captain Jacque back to England, and to London again, I would
pay him the £20 off my bill for each of us. This he had no mind to;
"for, as to your brother," says he, "I would not take him into my ship
for twice £20, he is such a hardened, desperate villain," says he; "I
should be obliged to carry him in irons as I brought him hither."

Thus we parted with our captain or kidnapper, call him as you will. We
were then delivered to the merchants to whom we were consigned, who
again disposed of us as they thought fit; and in a few days we were
separated.

As for my Captain Jacque, to make short of the story, that desperate
rogue had the luck to have a very easy, good master, whose easiness
and good humour he abused very much; and, in particular, took an
opportunity to run away with a boat which his master entrusted him and
another with to carry some provisions down the river to another
plantation which he had there. This boat and provisions they ran away
with, and sailed north to the bottom of the bay, as they call it, and
into a river called Susquehanna, and there quitting the boat, they
wandered through the woods, till they came to Pennsylvania, from
whence they made shift to get passage to New England, and from thence
home; where, falling in among his old companions and to the old trade,
he was at length taken and hanged, about a month before I came to
London, which was near twenty years afterwards.

My part was harder at the beginning, though better at the latter
end. I was disposed of, that is to say, sold, to a rich planter
whose name was Smith, and with me the other Englishman, who was my
fellow-deserter, that Jacque brought me to when we went off from
Dunbar.

We were now fellow-servants, and it was our lot to be carried up a
small river or creek which falls into Potomac river, about eight miles
from the great river. Here we were brought to the plantation, and put
in among about fifty servants, as well negroes as others; and being
delivered to the head man, or director, or manager of the plantation,
he took care to let us know that we must expect to work, and very hard
too; for it was for that purpose his master bought servants, and for
no other. I told him, very submissively, that since it was our
misfortune to come into such a miserable condition as we were in, we
expected no other; only we desired we might be showed our business,
and be allowed to learn it gradually, since he might be sure we had
not been used to labour; and I added that when he knew particularly by
what methods we were brought and betrayed into such a condition, he
would perhaps see cause at least to show us that favour, if not more.
This I spoke with such a moving tone as gave him a curiosity to
inquire into the particulars of our story, which I gave him at large,
a little more to our advantage, too, than ordinary.

This story, as I hoped it would, did move him to a sort of tenderness;
but yet he told us that his master's business must be done, and that
he expected we must work as above; that he could not dispense with
that upon any account whatever. Accordingly, to work we went; and
indeed we had three hard things attending us; namely, we worked hard,
lodged hard, and fared hard. The first I had been an utter stranger
to; the last I could shift well enough with.

During this scene of life I had time to reflect on my past hours, and
upon what I had done in the world; and though I had no great capacity
of making a clear judgment, and very little reflections from
conscience, yet it made some impressions upon me; and particularly,
that I was brought into this miserable condition of a slave by some
strange directing power as a punishment for the wickedness of my
younger years; and this thought was increased upon the following
occasion. The master whose service I was now engaged in was a man of
substance and figure in the country, and had abundance of servants, as
well negroes as English; in all, I think, he had near two hundred; and
among so many, as some grew every year infirm and unable to work,
others went off upon their time being expired, and others died; and by
these and other accidents the number would diminish, if they were not
often recruited and filled, and this obliged him to buy more every
year.

It happened while I was here that a ship arrived from London with
several servants, and among the rest was seventeen transported felons,
some burnt in the hand, others not; eight of whom my master bought for
the time specified in the warrant for their transportation
respectively, some for a longer, some a shorter, term of years.

Our master was a great man in the country, and a justice of peace,
though he seldom came down to the plantation where I was. Yet, as the
new servants were brought on shore and delivered at our plantation,
his worship came thither, in a kind of state, to see and receive them.
When they were brought before him I was called, among other servants,
as a kind of guard, to take them into custody after he had seen them,
and carry them to the work. They were brought by a guard of seamen
from the ship, and the second mate of the ship came with them, and
delivered them to our master, with the warrant for their
transportation, as above.

When his worship had read over the warrants, he called them over by
their names, one by one, and having let them know, by his reading the
warrants over again to each man respectively, that he knew for what
offences they were transported, he talked to every one separately very
gravely; let them know how much favour they had received in being
saved from the gallows, which the law had appointed for their crimes;
that they were not sentenced to be transported, but to be hanged, and
that transportation was granted them upon their own request and humble
petition.

Then he laid before them that they ought to look upon the life they
were just going to enter upon as just beginning the world again; that
if they thought fit to be diligent and sober, they would, after the
time they were ordered to serve was expired, be encouraged by the
constitution of the country to settle and plant for themselves; and
that even he himself would be so kind to them, that if he lived to see
any of them serve their time faithfully out, it was his custom to
assist his servants in order to their settling in that country,
according as their behaviour might merit from him; and they would see
and know several planters round about them who now were in very good
circumstances, and who formerly were only his servants, in the same
condition with them, and came from the same place--that is to say,
Newgate; and some of them had the mark of it in their hands, but were
now very honest men and lived in very good repute.

Among the rest of his new servants, he came to a young fellow not
above seventeen or eighteen years of age, and his warrant mentions
that he was, though a young man, yet an old offender; that he had been
several times condemned, but had been respited or pardoned, but still
he continued an incorrigible pickpocket; that the crime for which he
was now transported was for picking a merchant's pocket-book, or
letter-case, out of his pocket, in which was bills of exchange for a
very great sum of money; that he had afterwards received the money
upon some of the bills, but that going to a goldsmith in Lombard
Street with another bill, and having demanded the money, he was
stopped, notice having been given of the loss of them; that he was
condemned to die for the felony, and being so well known for an old
offender, had certainly died, but the merchant, upon his earnest
application, had obtained that he should be transported, on condition
that he restored all the rest of his bills, which he had done
accordingly.

Our master talked a long time to this young fellow; mentioned, with
some surprise, that he so young should have followed such a wicked
trade so long as to obtain the name of an old offender at so young an
age; and that he should be styled incorrigible, which is to signify
that notwithstanding his being whipped two or three times, and several
times punished by imprisonment, and once burnt in the hand, yet
nothing would do him any good, but that he was still the same. He
talked mighty religiously to this boy, and told him God had not only
spared him from the gallows, but had now mercifully delivered him from
the opportunity of committing the same sin again, and put it into his
power to live an honest life, which perhaps he knew not how to do
before; and though some part of his life now might be laborious, yet
he ought to look on it to be no more than being put out apprentice to
an honest trade, in which, when he came out of his time, he might be
able to set up for himself and live honestly.

Then he told him that while he was a servant he would have no
opportunity to be dishonest; so when he came to be for himself he
would have no temptation to it; and so, after a great many other kind
things said to him and the rest, they were dismissed.

I was exceedingly moved at this discourse of our master's, as anybody
would judge I must be, when it was directed to such a young rogue,
born a thief, and bred up a pickpocket, like myself; for I thought all
my master said was spoken to me, and sometimes it came into my head
that sure my master was some extraordinary man, and he knew all things
that ever I had done in my life.

But I was surprised to the last degree when my master, dismissing
all the rest of us servants, pointed at me, and speaking to his
head-clerk, "Here," says he, "bring that young fellow hither to me."

I had been near a year in the work, and I had plied it so well that
the clerk, or headman, either flattered me or did really believe that
I behaved very well. But I was terribly frighted to hear myself called
out aloud, just as they used to call for such as had done some
misdemeanour, and were to be lashed or otherwise corrected.

I came in like a malefactor indeed, and thought I looked like one just
taken in the fact and carried before the justice; and indeed when I
came in, for I was carried into an inner room or parlour in the house
to him (his discourse to the rest was in a large hall, where he sat in
a seat like a lord judge upon the bench, or a petty king upon his
throne); when I came in, I say, he ordered his man to withdraw, and I
standing half naked and bare-headed, with my haugh, or hoe, in my hand
(the posture and figure I was in at my work), near the door, he bade
me lay down my hoe and come nearer. Then he began to look a little
less stern and terrible than I fancied him to look before, or,
perhaps, both his countenance then and before might be to my
imagination differing from what they really were; for we do not always
judge those things by the real temper of the person, but by the
measure of our apprehensions.

"Hark ye, young man, how old are you?" says my master; and so our
dialogue began.

_Jacque_. Indeed, sir, I do not know.

_Mast_. What is your name?

_Jacque_. They call me Colonel[4] here, but my name is Jacque, an't
please your worship.

_Mast_. But prithee, what is thy name?

_Jacque_. Jacque.

_Mast_. What! is thy Christian name, then, Colonel, and thy surname
Jacque?

_Jacque_. Truly, sir, to tell your honour the truth, I know little or
nothing of myself,[5] nor what my true name is; but thus I have been
called ever since I remember. Which is my Christian name, or which my
surname, or whether I was ever christened or not, I cannot tell.

_Mast_. Well, however, that's honestly answered. Pray, how came you
hither, and on what account are you made a servant here?

_Jacque_. I wish your honour could have patience with me to hear the
whole story; it is the hardest and most unjust thing that ever came
before you.

_Mast_. Say you so? Tell it me at large, then. I'll hear it, I promise
that, if it be an hour long.

This encouraged me, and I began at being a soldier, and being
persuaded to desert at Dunbar, and gave him all the particulars, as
they are related above, to the time of my coming on shore and the
captain talking to me about my bill after I arrived here. He held up
his hands several times as I went on, expressing his abhorrence of the
usage I had met with at Newcastle, and inquired the name of the master
of the ship; "for," said he, "that captain, for all his smooth words,
must be a rogue." So I told him his name, and the name of the ship,
and he took it down in his book, and then he went on.

_Mast_. But pray answer me, honestly too, to another question: What
was it made you so much concerned at my talking to the boy there, the
pickpocket?

_Jacque_. An't please your honour, it moved me to hear you talk so
kindly to a poor slave.

_Mast_. And was that all? Speak truly now.

_Jacque_. No, indeed; but a secret wish came into my thoughts, that
you, that were so good to such a creature as that, could but one way
or other know my case, and that if you did, you would certainly pity
me, and do something for me.

_Mast_. Well, but was there nothing in his case that hit your own,
that made you so affected with it; for I saw tears come from your eyes
and it was that made me call to speak to you?

_Jacque_. Indeed, sir, I have been a wicked, idle boy, and was left
desolate in the world; but that boy is a thief, and condemned to be
hanged. I never was before a court of justice in my life.

_Mast_. Well, I won't examine you too far. If you were never before a
court of justice, and are not a criminal transported, I have nothing
further to inquire of you. You have been ill used, that's certain; and
was it that that affected you?

_Jacque_. Yes, indeed, please your honour. (We all called him his
honour, or his worship.)

_Mast_. Well, now I do know your case, what can I do for you? You
speak of a bill of £94 of which you would have given the captain £40
for your liberty; have you that bill in your keeping still?

_Jacque_. Yes, sir; here it is.

I pulled it out of the waistband of my drawers, where I always found
means to preserve it, wrapped up in a piece of paper, and pinned to
the waistband, and yet almost worn out, too, with often pinning and
removing. So I gave it to him to read, and he read it.

_Mast_. And is this gentleman in being that gave you the bill?

_Jacque_. Yes, sir; he was alive and in good health when I came from
London, which you may see by the date of the bill, for I came away the
next day.

_Mast_. I do not wonder that the captain of the ship was willing to
get this bill of you when you came on shore here.

_Jacque_. I would have given it into his possession if he would have
carried me and my brother back again to England, and have taken what
he asked for us out of it.

_Mast_. Ay; but he knew better than that, too. He knew, if he had any
friends there, they would call him to an account for what he had done.
But I wonder he did not take it from you while you were at sea, either
by fraud or by force.

_Jacque_. He did not attempt that indeed.

_Mast_. Well, young man, I have a mind to try if I can do you any
service in this case. On my word, if the money can be paid, and you
can get it safe over, I might put you in a way how to be a better man
than your master, if you will be honest and diligent.

_Jacque_. As I have behaved myself in your service, sir, you will, I
hope, judge of the rest.

_Mast_. But perhaps you hanker after returning to England?

_Jacque_. No, indeed, sir; if I can but get my bread honestly here, I
have no mind to go to England; for I know not how to get my bread
there. If I had, I had not 'listed for a soldier.

_Mast_. Well, but I must ask you some questions about that part
hereafter; for 'tis indeed something strange that you should list for
a soldier when you had £94 in your pocket.

_Jacque_. I shall give your worship as particular account of that as I
have of the other part of my life, if you please; but 'tis very long.

_Mast_. Well, we will have that another time. But to the case in hand.
Are you willing I should send to anybody at London to talk with that
gentleman that gave you the bill; not to take the money of him, but to
ask him only whether he has so much money of yours in his hands, and
whether he will part with it when you shall give order, and send the
bill, or a duplicate of it; that is (says he) the copy? (And it was
well he did say so, for I did not understand the word duplicate at
all.)

_Jacque_. Yes, sir; I will give you the bill itself, if you please. I
can trust it with you, though I could not with him.

_Mast_. No, no, young man, I won't take it from you.

_Jacque_. I wish your worship would please to keep it for me, for if I
should lose it, then I am quite undone.

_Mast_. I will keep it for you, Jacque, if you will; but then you
shall have a note under my hand, signifying that I have it, and will
return it you upon demand, which will be as safe to you as the bill. I
won't take it else.

So I gave my master the bill, and he gave me his note for it; and he
was a faithful steward for me, as you will hear in its place. After
this conference I was dismissed, and went to my work; but about two
hours after, the steward, or the overseer of the plantation, came
riding by, and coming up to me as I was at work, pulled a bottle out
of his pocket, and calling me to him, gave me a dram of rum. When, in
good manners, I had taken but a little sup, he held it out to me
again, and bade me take another, and spoke wondrous civilly to me,
quite otherwise than he used to do.

This encouraged me and heartened me very much, but yet I had no
particular view of anything, or which way I should have any relief.

A day or two after, when we were all going out to our work in the
morning, the overseer called me to him again, and gave me a dram and a
good piece of bread, and bade me come off from my work about one
o'clock, and come to him to the house, for he must speak with me.

When I came to him, I came, to be sure, in the ordinary habit of a
poor half-naked slave. "Come hither, young man," says he, "and give me
your hoe." When I gave it him, "Well," says he, "you are to work no
more in this plantation."

I looked surprised, and as if I was frighted. "What have I done, sir?"
said I; "and whither am I to be sent away?"

"Nay, nay," says he, and looked very pleasantly, "do not be frighted;
'tis for your good; 'tis not to hurt you. I am ordered to make an
overseer of you, and you shall be a slave no longer."

"Alas!" says I to him, "I an overseer! I am in no condition for it. I
have no clothes to put on, no linen, nothing to help myself."

"Well, well," says he, "you may be better used than you are aware of.
Come hither with me." So he led me into a vast, great warehouse, or,
rather, set of warehouses, one within another, and calling the
warehouse-keeper, "Here," says he, "you must clothe this man, and give
him everything necessary, upon the foot of number five, and give the
bill to me. Our master has ordered me to allow it in the account of
the west plantation." That was, it seems, the plantation where I was
to go.

Accordingly, the warehouse-keeper carried me into an inner warehouse,
where were several suits of clothes of the sort his orders mentioned,
which were plain but good sorts of clothes, ready made, being of a
good broadcloth, about 11s. a yard in England; and with this he gave
me three good shirts, two pair of shoes, stockings, and gloves, a hat,
six neckcloths, and, in short, everything I could want; and when he
had looked everything out, and fitted them, he lets me into a little
room by itself. "Here," says he; "go in there a slave, and come out a
gentleman;" and with that carried everything into the room, and,
shutting the door, bid me put them on, which I did most willingly; and
now you may believe that I began to hope for something better than
ordinary.

In a little while after this came the overseer, and gave me joy of my
new clothes, and told me I must go with him. So I was carried to
another plantation, larger than that where I worked before, and where
there were two overseers or clerks; one within doors, and one without.
This last was removed to another plantation, and I was placed there in
his room (that is to say, as the clerk without doors), and my business
was to look after the servants and negroes, and take care that they
did their business, provide their food, and, in short, both govern and
direct them.

I was elevated to the highest degree in my thoughts at this
advancement, and it is impossible for me to express the joy of my mind
upon this occasion; but there came a difficulty upon me, that shocked
me so violently and went so against my very nature that I really had
almost forfeited my place about it, and, in all appearance, the favour
of our master, who had been so generous to me; and this was, that when
I entered upon my office, I had a horse given me and a long horsewhip,
like what we call in England a hunting-whip. The horse was to ride up
and down all over the plantation, to see the servants and negroes did
their work; and, the plantation being so large, it could not be done
on foot, at least so often and so effectively as was required; and the
horsewhip was given me to correct and lash the slaves and servants
when they proved negligent or quarrelsome, or, in short, were guilty
of any offence. This part turned the very blood within my veins, and I
could not think of it with any temper, that I, who was but yesterday a
servant or slave like them, and under the authority of the same lash,
should lift up my hand to the cruel work which was my terror but the
day before. This, I say, I could not do; insomuch that the negroes
perceived it, and I had soon so much contempt upon my authority that
we were all in disorder.

The ingratitude of their return for the compassion I showed them
provoked me, I confess, and a little hardened my heart; and I began
with the negroes, two of whom I was obliged to correct; and I thought
I did it most cruelly; but after I had lashed them till every blow I
struck them hurt myself and I was ready to faint at the work, the
rogues laughed at me, and one of them had the impudence to say, behind
my back, that, if he had the whipping of me, he would show me better
how to whip a negro.

Well, however, I had no power to do it in such a barbarous manner as I
found it was necessary to have it done; and the defect began to be a
detriment to our master's business. And now I began indeed to see that
the cruelty so much talked of, used in Virginia and Barbados, and
other colonies, in whipping the negro slaves, was not so much owing to
the tyranny and passion and cruelty of the English, as had been
reported, the English not being accounted to be of a cruel
disposition, and really are not so; but that it is owing to the
brutality and obstinate temper of the negroes, who cannot be managed
by kindness and courtesy, but must be ruled with a rod of iron, beaten
with scorpions, as the Scripture calls it, and must be used as they do
use them, or they would rise and murder all their masters; which,
their numbers considered, would not be hard for them to do, if they
had arms and ammunition suitable to the rage and cruelty of their
nature.

But I began to see at the same time that this brutal temper of the
negroes was not rightly managed; that they did not take the best
course with them to make them sensible, either of mercy or punishment;
and it was evident to me that even the worst of those tempers might be
brought to a compliance without the lash, or at least without so much
of it as they generally inflicted.

Our master was really a man of humanity himself, and was sometimes so
full of tenderness that he would forbid the severities of his
overseers and stewards; but he saw the necessity of it, and was
obliged at last to leave it to the discretion of his upper servants.
Yet he would often bid them be merciful, and bid them consider the
difference of the constitution of the bodies of the negroes, some
being less able to bear the tortures of their punishment than others,
and some of them less obstinate, too, than others.

However, somebody was so officious as to inform him against me upon
this occasion, and let him know that I neglected his affairs, and that
the servants were under no government; by which means his plantation
was not duly managed, and that all things were in disorder.

This was a heavy charge for a young overseer, and his honour came like
a judge, with all his attendants, to look into things and hear the
cause. However, he was so just to me as that, before he censured me,
he resolved to hear me fully, and that not only publicly, but in
private too. And the last part of this was my particular good fortune;
for, as he had formerly allowed me to speak to him with freedom, so I
had the like freedom now, and had full liberty to explain and defend
myself.

I knew nothing of the complaint against me till I had it from his own
mouth, nor anything of his coming till I saw him in the very
plantation, viewing his work, and viewing the several pieces of ground
that were ordered to be new planted; and after he had rode all round,
and seen things in the condition which they were to be seen in, how
every thing was in its due order, and the servants and negroes were
all at work, and everything appearing to his mind, he went into the
house.

As I saw him come up the walks I ran towards him and made my homage,
and gave him my humble thanks for the goodness he had showed me in
taking me from the miserable condition I was in before, and employing
and entrusting me in his business; and he looked pleasant enough,
though he did not say much at first; and I attended him through the
whole plantation, gave him an account of everything as we went along,
answered all his objections and inquiries everywhere in such a manner
as it seems he did not expect; and, as he acknowledged afterwards,
everything was very much to his satisfaction.

There was an overseer, as I observed, belonging to the same
plantation, who was, though not over me, yet in a work superior to
mine; for his business was to see the tobacco packed up and deliver it
either on board the sloops or otherwise, as our master ordered, and to
receive English goods from the grand warehouse, which was at the other
plantation, because that was nearest the water-side; and, in short, to
keep the accounts.

This overseer, an honest and upright man, made no complaint to him of
his business being neglected, as above, or of anything like it, though
he inquired of him about it, and that very strictly, too.

I should have said, that as he rid over the plantation, he came in his
round to the place where the servants were usually corrected when they
had done any fault; and there stood two negroes, with their hands tied
behind them, as it were under sentence; and when he came near them
they fell on their knees and made pitiful signs to him for mercy.
"Alas! alas!" says he, turning to me, "why did you bring me this way?
I do not love such sights. What must I do now? I must pardon them;
prithee, what have they done?" I told him the particular offences
which they were brought to the place for. One had stole a bottle of
rum, and had made himself drunk with it, and, when he was drunk, had
done a great many mad things, and had attempted to knock one of the
white servants' brains out with a handspike, but that the white man
had avoided the blow, and, striking up the negro's heels, had seized
him and brought him prisoner thither, where he had lain all night; and
that I had told him he was to be whipped that day, and the next three
days, twice every day.

"And could you be so cruel?" says his honour. "Why, you would kill the
poor wretch; and so, beside the blood which you would have to answer
for, you would lose me a lusty man negro, which cost me at least £30
or £40, and bring a reproach upon my whole plantation. Nay, and more
than that, some of them in revenge would murder me, if ever it was in
their power."

"Sir," says I, "if those fellows are not kept under by violence, I
believe you are satisfied nothing is to be done with them; and it is
reported in your works that I have been rather their jest than their
terror, for want of using them as they deserve; and I was resolved,
how much soever it is against my own disposition, that your service
should not suffer for my unseasonable forbearance; and therefore, if I
had scourged him to death----" "Hold," says he; "no, no, by no means
any such severity in my bounds. Remember, young man; you were once a
servant. Deal as you would acknowledge it would be just to deal with
you in his case, and mingle always some mercy. I desire it, and let
the consequence of being too gentle be placed to my account."

This was as much as I could desire, and the more because what passed
was in public, and several, both negroes and white servants, as well
as the particular persons who had accused me, heard it all, though I
did not know it. "A cruel dog of an overseer," says one of the white
servants behind; "he would have whipped poor bullet-head"--so they
called the negro that was to be punished--"to death if his honour had
not happened to come to-day."

However, I urged the notorious crime this fellow was guilty of, and
the danger there was in such forbearance, from the refractory and
incorrigible temper of the negroes, and pressed a little the necessity
of making examples. But he said, "Well, well, do it the next time, but
not now;" so I said no more.

The other fellow's crime was trifling compared with this; and the
master went forward, talking of it to me, and I following him, till we
came to the house; when, after he had been sat down a while, he called
me to him, and, not suffering my accusers to come near till he had
heard my defence, he began with me thus:--

_Mast_. Hark ye, young man, I must have some discourse with you. Your
conduct is complained of since I set you over this plantation. I
thought your sense of the obligation I had laid on you would have
secured your diligence and faithfulness to me.

_Jacque_. I am very sorry any complaint should be made of me, because
the obligation I am under to your honour (and which I freely confess)
does bind me to your interest in the strongest manner imaginable; and,
however I may have mistaken my business, I am sure I have not
willingly neglected it.

_Mast_. Well, I shall not condemn you without hearing you, and
therefore I called you in now to tell you of it.

_Jacque_. I humbly thank your honour. I have but one petition more,
and that is, that I may know my accusation; and, if you please, my
accusers.

_Mast_. The first you shall, and that is the reason of my talking to
you in private; and if there is any need of a further hearing, you
shall know your accusers too. What you are charged with is just
contrary to what appeared to me just now, and therefore you and I must
come to a new understanding about it, for I thought I was too cunning
for you, and now I think you have been too cunning for me.

_Jacque_. I hope your honour will not be offended that I do not fully
understand you.

_Mast_. I believe you do not. Come, tell me honestly, did you really
intend to whip the poor negro twice a day for four days together; that
is to say, to whip him to death, for that would have been the English
of it, and the end of it?

_Jacque_. If I may be permitted to guess, sir, I believe I know the
charge that is brought against me, and that your honour has been told
that I have been too gentle with the negroes, as well as other
servants; and that when they deserved to be used with the accustomed
severity of the country, I have not given them half enough; and that
by this means they are careless of your business, and that your
plantation is not well looked after, and the like.

_Mast_. Well, you guess right. Go on.

_Jacque_. The first part of the charge I confess, but the last I deny,
and appeal to your honour's strictest examination into every part of
it.

_Mast_. If the last part could be true, I would be glad the first
were; for it would be an infinite satisfaction to me that, my business
not being neglected, nor our safety endangered, those poor wretches
could be used with more humanity; for cruelty is the aversion of my
nature, and it is the only uncomfortable thing that attends me in all
my prosperity.

_Jacque_. I freely acknowledge, sir, that at first it was impossible
for me to bring myself to that terrible work. How could I, that was
but just come out of the terror of it myself, and had but the day
before been a poor naked, miserable servant myself, and might be
to-morrow reduced to the same condition again; how could I use this
terrible weapon[6] on the naked flesh of my fellow-servants, as well
as fellow-creatures? At least, sir, when my duty made it absolutely
necessary, I could not do it without the utmost horror. I beseech you,
pardon me if I have such a tenderness in my nature, that though I
might be fit to be your servant, I am incapable of being an
executioner, having been an offender myself.

_Mast_. Well, but how, then, can my business be done? And how will
this terrible obstinacy of the negroes, who, they tell me, can be no
otherwise governed, be kept from neglect of their work, or even
insolence and rebellion?

_Jacque_. This brings me, sir, to the latter part of my defence; and
here I hope your honour will be pleased to call my accusers, or that
you will give yourself the trouble of taking the exactest view of your
plantation, and see, or let them show you, if anything is neglected,
if your business has suffered in anything, or if your negroes or other
servants are under less government than they were before; and if, on
the contrary, I have found out that happy secret, to have good order
kept, the business of the plantation done, and that with diligence and
despatch, and that the negroes are kept in awe, the natural temper of
them subjected, and the safety and peace of your family secured, as
well by gentle means as by rough, by moderate correction as by torture
and barbarity, by a due awe of just discipline as by the horror of
unsufferable torments, I hope your honour will not lay that sin to my
charge.

_Mast_. No, indeed; you would be the most acceptable manager that ever
I employed. But how, then, does this consist with the cruel sentence
you had passed on the poor fellow that is in your condemned hole
yonder, who was to be whipped eight times in four days?

_Jacque_. Very well, sir. First, sir, he remains under the terrible
apprehensions of a punishment so severe as no negro ever had before.
This fellow, with your leave, I intended to release to-morrow without
any whipping at all, after talking to him in my way about his offence,
and raising in his mind a sense of the value of pardon. And if this
makes him a better servant than the severest whipping will do, then, I
presume, you would allow I have gained a point.

_Mast_. Ay; but what if it should not be so? For these fellows have no
sense of gratitude.

_Jacque_. That is, sir, because they are never pardoned. If they
offend, they never know what mercy is; and what, then, have they to be
grateful for?

_Mast_. Thou art in the right indeed. Where there is no mercy showed,
there is no obligation laid upon them.

_Jacque_. Besides, sir, if they have at any time been let go, which is
very seldom, they are not told what the case is. They take no pains
with them to imprint principles of gratitude on their minds, to tell
them what kindness is shown them, and what they are indebted for it,
and what they might gain in the end by it.

_Mast_. But do you think such usage would do? Would it make any
impression? You persuade yourself it would, but you see 'tis against
the received notion of the whole country.

_Jacque_. There are, it may be, public and national mistakes and
errors in conduct, and this is one.

_Mast_. Have you tried it? You cannot say it is a mistake till you
have tried and proved it to be so.

_Jacque_. Your whole plantation is a proof of it. This very fellow had
never acted as he did if he had not gotten rum in his head, and been
out of the government of himself; so that, indeed, all the offence I
ought to have punished him for had been that of stealing a bottle of
rum and drinking it all up; in which case, like Noah, he did not know
the strength of it, and when he had it in his head he was a madman, he
was as one raging and distracted; so that, for all the rest, he
deserved pity rather than punishment.

_Mast_. Thou art right, certainly right, and thou wilt be a rare
fellow if thou canst bring these notions into practice. I wish you had
tried it upon any one particular negro, that I might see an example. I
would give £500 if it could be brought to bear.

_Jacque_. I desire nothing, sir, but your favour, and the advantage of
obliging you. I will show you an example of it among your own negroes,
and all the plantation will acknowledge it.

_Mast_. You make my very heart glad within me, Jacque. If you can
bring this to pass, I here give you my word I'll not only give you
your own freedom, but make a man of you for this world as long as you
live.

Upon this I bowed to him very respectfully, and told him the following
story:--"There is a negro, sir, in your plantation who has been your
servant several years before I came. He did a fault that was of no
great consequence in itself, but perhaps would have been worse if they
had indeed gone further; and I had him brought into the usual place,
and tied him by the thumbs for correction, and he was told that he
should be whipped and pickled in a dreadful manner. After I had made
proper impressions on his mind of the terror of his punishment, and
found that he was sufficiently humbled by it, I went into the house,
and caused him to be brought out, just as they do when they go to
correct the negroes on such occasions. When he was stripped and tied
up he had two lashes given him, that was indeed very cruel ones, and I
called to them to hold. 'Hold!' said I to the two men that had just
began to lay on upon the poor fellow: 'Hold!' said I, 'let me talk
with him.'

"So he was taken down. Then I began and represented to him how kind
you, that were his great master,[7] had been to him; that you had
never done him any harm; that you had used him gently, and he had
never been brought to this punishment in so many years, though he had
done some faults before; that this was a notorious offence, for he had
stolen some rum, and made himself and two other negroes drunk-mad;[8]
and had abused two women negroes, who had husbands in our master's
service, but in another plantation; and played several pranks, and for
this I had appointed him this punishment.

"He shook his head, and made signs that he was _muchee sorree_, as he
called it. 'And what will you say or do,' said I, 'if I should prevail
with the great master to pardon you? I have a mind to go and see if I
can beg for you.' He told me he would lie down, let me kill him. 'Me
will,' says he, 'run, go, fetch, bring for you as long as me live.'
This was the opportunity I had a mind to have, to try whether, as
negroes have all the other faculties of reasonable creatures, they had
not also some sense of kindness, some principles of natural
generosity, which, in short, is the foundation of gratitude; for
gratitude is the product of generous principles."

"You please me with the beginning of this story," says he; "I hope you
have carried it on."

"Yes, sir," says I; "it has been carried on further perhaps than you
imagine, or will think has been possible in such a case.

"But I was not so arrogant as to assume the merit to myself. 'No, no,'
said I, 'I do not ask you to go or run for me; you must do all that
for our great master, for it will be from him entirely that you will
be pardoned at all, for your offence is against him; and what will you
say? Will you be grateful to him, and run, go, fetch, bring, for him,
as long as you live, as you have said you would for me?'

"'Yes, indeed,' says he, 'and muchee do, muchee do, for you too' (he
would not leave me out); 'you ask him for me.'

"Well, I put off all his promised gratitude to me from myself, as was
my duty, and placed it to your account; told him I knew you was muchee
good, muchee pitiful, and I would persuade you if I could; and so told
him I would go to you, and he should be whipped no more till I came
again; but, 'Hark ye, Mouchat,' says I (that was the negro's name),
'they tell me, when I came hither, that there is no showing kindness
to any of you negroes; that when we spare you from whipping you laugh
at us, and are the worse.'

"He looked very serious at me, and said, 'Oh, that not so; the masters
say so, but no be so, no be so, indeede, indeede,' and so we parleyed."

_Jacque_. Why do they say so, then? To be sure they have tried you
all.

_Negro_. No, no, they no try; they say so, but no try.

_Jacque_. I hear them all say so.

_Negro_. Me tell you the true; they have no mercie; they beat us
cruel, all cruel; they never have show mercie. How can they tell we be
no better?

_Jacque_. What! do they never spare?

_Negro_. Master, me speakee the true; they never give mercie; they
always whippee, lashee, knockee down, all cruel. Negro be muchee
better man, do muchee better work, but they tell us no mercie.

_Jacque_. But what, do they never show any mercy?

_Negro_. No, never; no, never; all whippee; all whippee, cruel, worse
than they whippee de horse, whippee de dog.

_Jacque_. But would they be better if they did?

_Negro_. Yes, yes; negro be muchee better if they be mercie. When they
be whippee, whippee, negro muchee cry, muchee hate; would kill if they
had de gun. But when they makee de mercie, then negro tell de great
tankee, and love to worke, and do muchee worke; and because he good
master to them.

_Jacque_. They say no; you would laugh at them and mock when they show
mercy.

_Negro_. How they say when they show mercie? They never show mercie;
me never see them show one mercie since me live.

"Now, sir," said I, "if this be so, really they go, I dare say,
contrary to your inclination, for I see you are but too full of pity
for the miserable. I saw it in my own case; and upon a presumption
that you had rather have your work done from a principle of love than
fear, without making your servants bleed for every trifle, if it were
possible; I say, upon this presumption I dealt with this Mouchat, as
you shall hear."

_Mast_. I have never met with anything of this kind since I have been
a planter, which is now about forty years. I am delighted with the
story. Go on; I expect a pleasant conclusion.

_Jacque_. The conclusion, sir, will be, I believe, as much to your
satisfaction as the beginning; for it every way answered my
expectation, and will yours also, and show you how you might be
faithfully served if you pleased, for 'tis certain you are not so
served now.

_Mast_. No, indeed; they serve me but just as they do the devil, for
fear I should hurt them. But 'tis contrary to an ingenuous spirit to
delight in such service. I abhor it, if I could but know how to get
any other.

_Jacque_. It is easy, sir, to show you that you may be served upon
better principles, and consequently be better served, and more to your
satisfaction; and I dare undertake to convince you of it.

_Mast_. Well, go on with the story.

_Jacque_. After I had talked thus to him I said, "Well, Mouchat, I
shall see how you will be afterwards, if I can get our great master to
be merciful to you at this time."

_Negro_. Yes, you shall see; you muchee see, muchee see.

"Upon this I called for my horse and went from him, and made as if I
rode away to you, who they told me was in the next plantation; and
having stayed four or five hours, I came back and talked to him again,
told him that I had waited on you, and that you had heard of his
offence, was highly provoked, and had resolved to cause him to be
severely punished for an example to all the negroes in the plantation;
but that I had told you how penitent he was, and how good he would be
if you would pardon him; and had at last prevailed on you. That you
had told me what all people said of the negroes; how, that to show
them mercy was to make them think you were never in earnest with them,
and that you did but trifle and play with them. However, that I had
told you what he had said of himself, and that it was not true of the
negroes, and that the white men said it, but that they could not know
because they did never show any mercy, and therefore had never tried;
that I had persuaded you to show mercy, to try whether kindness would
prevail as much as cruelty. 'And now, Mouchat,' said I, 'you will be
let go. Pray let our great master see that I have said true.' So I
ordered him to be untied, gave him a dram of rum out of my
pocket-bottle, and ordered them to give him some victuals.

"When the fellow was let loose, he came to me and kneeled down to me,
and took hold of my legs and of my feet, and laid his head upon the
ground, and sobbed and cried like a child that had been corrected, but
could not speak for his life; and thus he continued a long time. I
would have taken him up, but he would not rise; but I cried as fast as
he, for I could not bear to see a poor wretch lie on the ground to me,
that was but a servant the other day like himself. At last, but not
till a quarter of an hour, I made him get up, and then he spoke. 'Me
muchee know good great master, muchee good you master. No negro
unthankful; me die for them, do me so muchee kind.'

"I dismissed him then, and bid him go to his wife (for he was
married), and not work that afternoon; but as he was going away I
called him again, and talked thus to him.

"'Now, Mouchat,' says I, 'you see the white men can show mercy. Now
you must tell all the negroes what has been reported of them; that
they regard nothing but the whip; that if they are used gently they
are the worse, not the better; and that this is the reason why the
white men show them no mercy; and convince them that they would be
much better treated and used kindlier if they would show themselves as
grateful for kind usage as humble after torment; and see if you can
work on them.'

"'Me go, me go,' says he; 'me muchee talk to them. They be muchee glad
as me be, and do great work to be used kind by de great master.'"

_Mast_. Well, but now what testimony have you of this gratitude you
speak of? Have you seen any alteration among them?

_Jacque_. I come next to that part, sir. About a month after this I
caused a report to be spread abroad in the plantation that I had
offended you, the great master, and that I was turned out of the
plantation, and was to be hanged. Your honour knows that some time ago
you sent me upon your particular business into Potuxent River, where I
was absent twelve days; then I took the opportunity to have this
report spread about among the negroes, to see how it would work.

_Mast_. What! to see how Mouchat would take it?

_Jacque_. Yes, sir; and it made a discovery indeed. The poor fellow
did not believe it presently, but finding I was still absent, he went
to the head-clerk, and standing at his door, said nothing, but looked
like a fool of ten years old. After some time the upper overseer came
out, and seeing him stand there, at first said nothing, supposing he
had been sent of some errand; but observing him to stand stock-still,
and that he was in the same posture and place during the time that he
had passed and repassed two or three times, he stops short the last
time of his coming by. "What do you want," says he to him, "that you
stand idle here so long?"

"'Me speakee; me tell something,' says he.

"Then the overseer thought some discovery was at hand, and began to
listen to him. 'What would you tell me?' says he.

"'Me tell! Pray,' says he, 'where be de other master?'

"He meant he would ask where he was. 'What other master do you mean?'
says the clerk. 'What! do you want to speak with the great master? He
can't be spoke with by you. Pray what is your business? Cannot you
tell it to me?'

"'No, no; me no speakee the great master--the other master,' says
Mouchat."

"'What! the colonel?' says the clerk.

"'Yes, yes; the colonel,' says he.

"'Why, don't you know that he is to be hanged to-morrow,' says the
clerk, 'for making the great master angry?'[9]

"'Yes, yes,' says Mouchat; 'me know, me know; but me want speak; me
tell something.'

"'Well, what would you say?' says the clerk.

"'Oh! me no let him makee de great master angry.' With that he kneeled
down to the clerk.

"'What ails you?' says the clerk. 'I tell you he must be hanged.'

"'No, no,' says he; 'no hang de master. Me kneel for him to great
master.'

"'You kneel for him!' says the clerk.[10] 'What! do you think the
great master will mind you? He has made the great master angry, and
must be hanged, I tell you. What signifies your begging?'

"_Negro_. Oh! me pray, me pray the great master for him.

"_Clerk_. Why, what ails you that you would pray for him?

"_Negro_. Oh! he beggee the great master for me; now me beggee for
him. The great master muchee good, muchee good; he pardon me when the
other master beggee me; now he pardon him when me beggee for him
again.

"_Clerk_. No, no; your begging won't do. Will you be hanged for him?
If you do that, something may be.

"_Negro_. Yes, yes; me be hang for de poor master that beggee for me.
Mouchat shall hang; the great master shall hangee me, whippee me;
anything to save the poor master that beggee me; yes, yes, indeed.

"_Clerk_. Are you in earnest, Mouchat?

"_Negro_. Yes, indeed; me tellee de true. The great master shall know
me tellee de true, for he shall see the white man hangee me, Mouchat.
Poor negro Mouchat will be hangee, be whippee, anything for the poor
master that beggee for me.

"With this the poor fellow cried most pitifully, and there was no room
to question his being in earnest; when on a sudden I appeared, for I
was fetched to see all this transaction. I was not in the house at
first, but was just come home from the business you sent me of, and
heard it all; and indeed neither the clerk or I could bear it any
longer, so he came out to me. 'Go to him,' says he; 'you have made an
example that will never be forgot, that a negro can be grateful. Go to
him,' adds he, 'for I can talk to him no longer.' So I appeared, and
spoke to him presently, and let him see that I was at liberty; but to
hear how the poor fellow behaved your honour cannot but be pleased."

_Mast_. Prithee go on. I am pleased with it all; 'tis all a new scene
of negro life to me, and very moving.

_Jacque_. For a good while he stood as if he had been thunderstruck
and stupid; but, looking steadily at me, though not speaking a word,
at last he mutters to himself, with a kind of laugh, "Ay, ay," says
he, "Mouchat see, Mouchat no see; me wakee, me no wakee; no hangee, no
hangee; he live truly, very live;" and then on a sudden he runs to me,
snatches me away as if I had been a boy of ten years old, and takes me
up upon his back and runs away with me, till I was fain to cry out to
him to stop. Then he sets me down, and looks at me again, then falls
a-dancing about me as if he had been bewitched, just as you have seen
them do about their wives and children when they are merry.

"Well, then, he began to talk with me, and told me what they had said
to him, how I was to be hanged. 'Well,' says I, 'Mouchat, and would
you have been satisfied to be hanged to save me?' 'Yes, yes,' says he;
'be truly hangee, to beggee you.'

"'But why do you love me so well, Mouchat?' said I.

"'Did you no beggee me,' he says, 'at the great master? You savee me,
make great master muchee good, muchee kind, no whippee me; me no
forget; me be whipped, be hanged, that you no be hanged; me die, that
you no die; me no let any bad be with you all while that me live.'

"Now, sir, your honour may judge whether kindness, well managed, would
not oblige these people as well as cruelty, and whether there are
principles of gratitude in them or no."

_Mast_. But what, then, can be the reason that we never believed it to
be so before?

_Jacque_. Truly, sir, I fear that Mouchat gave the true reason.

_Mast_. What was that, pray? That we were too cruel?

_Jacque_. That they never had any mercy showed them; that we never
tried them whether they would be grateful or no; that if they did a
fault they were never spared, but punished with the utmost cruelty; so
that they had no passion, no affection, to act upon but that of fear,
which necessarily brought hatred with it; but that if they were used
with compassion they would serve with affection as well as other
servants. Nature is the same, and reason governs in just proportions
in all creatures; but having never been let taste what mercy is, they
know not how to act from a principle of love.

_Mast_. I am convinced it is so. But now, pray tell me, how did you
put this in practice with the poor negroes now in bonds yonder, when
you passed such a cruel sentence upon them that they should be whipped
twice a day, for four days together? Was that showing mercy?

_Jacque_. My method was just the same; and if you please to inquire of
Mr.----, your other servant, you will be satisfied that it was so; for
we agreed upon the same measures as I took with Mouchat; namely, first
to put them into the utmost horror and apprehensions of the cruellest
punishment that they ever heard of, and thereby enhance the value of
their pardon, which was to come as from yourself, but not without our
great intercession. Then I was to argue with them, and work upon their
reason, to make the mercy that was showed them sink deep into their
minds and give lasting impressions; explain the meaning of gratitude
to them, and the nature of an obligation, and the like, as I had done
with Mouchat.

_Mast_. I am answered. Your method is certainly right, and I desire
you may go on with it; for I desire nothing on this side heaven more
than to have all my negroes serve me from principles of gratitude for
my kindness to them. I abhor to be feared like a lion, like a tyrant.
It is a violence upon nature every way, and is the most disagreeable
thing in the world to a generous mind.

_Jacque_. But, sir, I am doubtful that you may not believe that I
intended to act thus with those poor fellows. I beseech you to send
for Mr.----, that he may tell you what we had agreed on before I speak
with him.

_Mast_. What reason have I to doubt that?

_Jacque_. I hope you have not; but I should be very sorry you should
think me capable of executing such a sentence as you have heard me own
I had passed on them, and there can be no way effectually to clear it
up but this.

_Mast_. Well, seeing you put so much weight upon it, he shall be
called for.

[He was called, and being ordered by the master to tell the measures
that were concerted between them for the punishment or management of
those negroes, he gave it just as Jacque had done before.]

_Jacque_. I hope, sir, you are now not only satisfied of the truth of
the account I gave relating to the method we had agreed on, but of its
being so proper and so likely to answer your end.

_Mast_. I am fully satisfied, and shall be glad to see that it answers
the end; for, as I have said, nothing can be more agreeable to me.
Nothing has so much robbed me of the comfort of all my fortunes as the
cruelty used, in my name, on the bodies of those poor slaves.

_Jacque_. It is certainly wrong, sir; it is not only wrong as it is
barbarous and cruel; but it is wrong, too, as it is the worst way of
managing and of having your business done.

_Mast_. It is my aversion; it fills my very soul with horror. I
believe if I should come by while they were using those cruelties on
the poor creatures, I should either sink down at the sight of it or
fly into a rage and kill the fellow that did it; though it is done,
too, by my own authority.

_Jacque_. But, sir, I dare say I shall convince you also that it is
wrong in respect of interest, and that your business shall be better
discharged and your plantations better ordered, and more work done by
the negroes who shall be engaged by mercy and lenity than by those who
are driven and dragged by the whips and the chains of a merciless
tormentor.

_Mast_. I think the nature of the thing speaks itself. Doubtless it
should be so, and I have often thought it would be so, and a thousand
times wished it might be so; but all my English people pretend
otherwise, and that it is impossible to bring the negroes to any sense
of kindness, and consequently not to any obedience of love.

_Jacque_. It may be true, sir, that there may be found here and there
a negro of a senseless, stupid, sordid disposition, perfectly
untractable, undocible, and incapable of due impressions; especially
incapable of the generosity of principle which I am speaking of. You
know very well, sir, there are such among Christians as well as among
the negroes; whence else came the English proverb, That if you save a
thief from the gallows, he shall be the first to cut your throat. But,
sir, if such a refractory, undocible fellow comes in our way, he must
be dealt with, first by the smooth ways to try him, then by the
violent way to break his temper, as they break a horse; and if nothing
will do, such a wretch should be sold off, and others bought in his
room; for the peace of the plantation should not be broken for one
devilish-tempered fellow. And if this was done I doubt not you should
have all your plantations carried on and your work done, and not a
negro or a servant upon it but what would not only work for you, but
even die for you, if there was an occasion for it, as you see this
poor Mouchat would have done for me.

_Mast_. Well, go on with your measures, and may you succeed. I'll
promise you I will fully make you amends for it. I long to have these
cruelties out of use, in my plantation especially. As for others, let
them do as they will.

Our master being gone, I went to the prisoners, and first I suffered
them to be told that the great master had been there, and that he had
been inclined to pardon them, till he knew what their crime was; but
then he said it was so great a fault that it must be punished.
Besides, the man that talked to them told them that the great master
said that he knew if he had pardoned them they would be but the worse,
for that the negroes were never thankful for being spared, and that
there were no other ways to make them obedient but severity.

One of the poor fellows, more sensible than the other, answered, if
any negro be badder for being kindly used, they should be whipped till
they were muchee better; but that he never knew that, for that he
never knew the negro be kindly use.

This was the same thing as the other had said, and indeed was but too
true, for the overseers really knew no such thing as mercy; and that
notion of the negroes being no other way to be governed but by cruelty
had been the occasion that no other method was ever tried among them.

Again, if a slack hand had at any time been held upon them, it had not
been done with discretion, or as a point of mercy, and managed with
the assistance of argument to convince the negroes of the nature and
reason of it, and to show them what they ought to do in return for it;
but it was perhaps the effect of negligence, ill conduct, and want of
application to the business of the plantation; and then it was no
wonder that the negroes took the advantage of it.

Well, I carried on the affair with these two negroes just as I did
with Mouchat, so I need not repeat the particulars; and they were
delivered with infinite acknowledgments and thanks, even to all the
extravagances of joy usual in those people on such occasions. And such
was the gratitude of those two pardoned fellows that they were the
most faithful and most diligent servants ever after that belonged to
the whole plantation, Mouchat excepted.

In this manner I carried on the plantation fully to his satisfaction;
and before a year more was expired there was scarce any such thing as
correction known in the plantation, except upon a few boys, who were
incapable of the impressions that good usage would have made, even
upon them too, till they had lived to know the difference.

It was some time after this conference that our great master, as we
called him, sent for me again to his dwelling-house, and told me he
had had an answer from England from his friend, to whom he had written
about my bill. I was a little afraid that he was going to ask me leave
to send it to London; but he did not say anything like that, but told
me that his friend had been with the gentleman, and that he owned the
bill, and that he had all the money in his hand that the bill had
mentioned; but that he had promised the young man that had given him
the money (meaning me) not to pay the money to anybody but himself,
though they should bring the bill; the reason of which was, that I did
not know who might get the bill away from me.

"But now, Colonel Jacque," says he, "as you wrote him an account where
you was, and by what wicked arts you were trepanned, and that it was
impossible for you to have your liberty till you could get the money,
my friend at London has written to me, that, upon making out a due
copy of the bill here, attested by a notary and sent to him, and your
obligation likewise attested, whereby you oblige yourself to deliver
the original to his order after the money is paid, he will pay the
money."

I told him I was willing to do whatever his honour directed; and so
the proper copies were drawn as I had been told were required.

"But now, what will you do with this money, Jacque?" says he, smiling.
"Will you buy your liberty of me, and go to planting?"

I was too cunning for him now indeed, for I remembered what he had
promised me; and I had too much knowledge of the honesty of his
principles, as well as of the kindness he had for me, to doubt his
being as good as his word; so I turned all this talk of his upon him
another way. I knew that when he asked me if I would buy my liberty
and go to planting, it was to try if I would leave him; so I said,
"As to buying my liberty, sir--that is to say, going out of your
service--I had much rather buy more time in your service, and I am
only unhappy that I have but two years to serve."

"Come, come, colonel," says he, "don't flatter me; I love plain
dealing. Liberty is precious to everybody; if you have a mind to have
your money brought over, you shall have your liberty to begin for
yourself, and I will take care you shall be well used by the country,
and get you a good plantation."

I still insisted that I would not quit his service for the best
plantation in Maryland; that he had been so good to me, and I believed
I was so useful to him, that I could not think of it; and at last I
added I hoped he could not believe but I had as much gratitude as a
negro.

He smiled, and said he would not be served upon those terms; that he
did not forget what he had promised, nor what I had done in his
plantation; and that he was resolved in the first place to give me my
liberty. So he pulls out a piece of paper, and throws it to me:
"There," says he, "there's a certificate of your coming on shore, and
being sold to me for five years, of which you have lived three with
me; and now you are your own master." I bowed, and told him that I was
sure, if I was my own master, I would be his servant as long as he
would accept of my service. And now we strained courtesies, and he
told me I should be his servant still; but it should be on two
conditions: first, that he would give me £30 a year and my board for
my managing the plantation I was then employed in; and, secondly, that
at the same time he would procure me a new plantation to begin upon my
own account, "For, Colonel Jacque," says he, smiling, "though you are
but a young man, yet 'tis time you were doing something for yourself."

I answered that I could do little at a plantation for myself, unless I
neglected his business, which I was resolved not to do on any terms
whatever, but that I would serve him faithfully, if he would accept of
me, as long as he lived. "So you shall," says he again, "and serve
yourself too." And thus we parted for that time.

Here I am to observe in the general, to avoid dwelling too long upon a
story, that as the two negroes who I delivered from punishment were
ever after the most diligent and laborious poor fellows in the whole
plantation as above, except Mouchat, of whom I shall speak more
by-and-by, so they not only were grateful themselves for their good
usage, but they influenced the whole plantation; so that the gentle
usage and lenity with which they had been treated had a thousand times
more influence upon them to make them diligent than all the blows and
kicks, whippings, and other tortures could have which they had been
used to. And now the plantation was famous for it; so that several
other planters began to do the same, though I cannot say it was with
the same success, which might be for want of taking pains with them
and working upon their passions in a right manner. It appeared that
negroes were to be reasoned into things as well as other people, and
it was by thus managing their reason that most of the work was done.

However, as it was, the plantations in Maryland were the better for
this undertaking, and they are to this day less cruel and barbarous to
their negroes than they are in Barbados and Jamaica; and 'tis observed
the negroes are not in these colonies so desperate, neither do they so
often run away or so often plot mischief against their master, as they
do in those.

I have dwelt the longer upon it that, if possible, posterity might be
persuaded to try gentler methods with those miserable creatures, and
to use them with humanity; assuring them that if they did so, adding
the common prudence that every particular case would direct them to
for itself, the negroes would do their work faithfully and cheerfully;
they would not find any of that refractoriness and sullenness in their
temper that they pretend now to complain of, but they would be the
same as their Christian servants, except that they would be the more
thank ful, and humble, and laborious of the two.

I continued in this station between five and six years after this, and
in all that time we had not one negro whipped, except, as I observed
before, now and then an unlucky boy, and that only for trifles. I
cannot say but we had some ill-natured, ungovernable negroes; but if
at any time such offended, they were pardoned the first time, in the
manner as above, and the second time were ordered to be turned out of
the plantation. And this was remarkable, that they would torment
themselves at the apprehension of being turned away, more by a great
deal than if they had been to be whipped, for then they were only
sullen and heavy. Nay, at length we found the fear of being turned out
of the plantation had as much effect to reform them--that is to say,
make them more diligent--than any torture would have done; and the
reason was evident, namely, because in our plantation they were used
like men, in the other like dogs.

My master owned the satisfaction he took in this blessed change, as he
called it, as long as he lived; and as he was so engaged by seeing the
negroes grateful, he showed the same principle of gratitude to those
that served him as he looked for in those that he served, and
particularly to me; and so I come briefly to that part. The first
thing he did after giving me my liberty as above, and making me an
allowance, was to get the country bounty to me--that is to say, a
quantity of land to begin and plant for myself.

But this he managed a way by himself, and, as I found afterwards, took
up, that is, purchased in my name, about three hundred acres of land,
in a more convenient place than it would have otherwise been allotted
me; and this he did by his interest with the lord proprietor; so that
I had an extent of ground marked out to me, not next but very near one
of his own plantations. When I made my acknowledgment for this to him,
he told me plainly that I was not beholden to him for it all; for he
did it that I might not be obliged to neglect his business for the
carrying on my own, and on that account he would not reckon to me what
money he paid, which, however, according to the custom of the country,
was not a very great sum--I think about £40 or £50.

Thus he very generously gave me my liberty, advanced this money for
me, put me into a plantation for myself, and gave me £30 a year wages
for looking after one of his own plantations.

"But, Colonel," says he to me, "giving you this plantation is nothing
at all to you if I do not assist you to support it and to carry it on,
and therefore I will give you credit for whatever is needful to you
for the carrying it on; such as tools, provisions for servants, and
some servants to begin; materials to build outhouses, and
conveniences of all sorts for the plantation, and to buy hogs, cows,
horses for stock, and the like; and I'll take it out of your cargo,
which will come from London, for the money of your bill."

This was highly obliging and very kind, and the more so, as it
afterwards appeared. In order to this he sent two servants of his own
who were carpenters. As for timber, boards, planks, and all sorts of
such things, in a country almost all made of wood they could not be
wanting. These run me up a little wooden house in less than three
weeks' time, where I had three rooms, a kitchen, an outhouse, and
two large sheds at a distance from the house for store houses, almost
like barns, with stables at the end of them; and thus I was set up in
the world, and, in short, removed by the degrees that you have heard
from a pickpocket to a kidnapped, miserable slave in Virginia (for
Maryland is Virginia, speaking of them at a distance); then from a
slave to a head-officer or overseer of slaves, and from thence to a
master-planter.

I had now, as above, a house, a stable, two warehouses, and three
hundred acres of land; but, as we say, bare walls make giddy hussies,
so I had neither axe nor hatchet to cut down the trees; horse, nor
hog, nor cow to put upon the land; not a hoe or a spade to break
ground, nor a pair of hands but my own to go to work upon.

But Heaven and kind masters make up all those things to a diligent
servant; and I mention it because people who are either transported or
otherwise trepanned into those places are generally thought to be
rendered miserable and undone; whereas, on the contrary, I would
encourage them, upon my own experience, to depend upon it, that if
their own diligence in the time of service gains them but a good
character, which it will certainly do if they can deserve it, there is
not the poorest and most despicable felon that ever went over but may,
after his time is served, begin for himself, and may in time be sure
of raising a good plantation.

For example, I will now take a man in the meanest circumstances of a
servant, who has served out his five or seven years; suppose a
transported wretch for seven years. The custom of the place was
then--what it is since I know not--that on his master's certifying
that he had served his time out faithfully, he had fifty acres of land
allotted him for planting, and on this plan he begins.

Some had a horse, a cow, and three hogs given, or rather lent, them,
as a stock for the land, which they made an allowance for at a certain
time and rate.

Custom has made it a trade to give credit to such beginners as these
for tools, clothes, nails, ironwork, and other things necessary for
their planting, and which the persons so giving credit to them are to
be paid for out of the crop of tobacco which they shall plant. Nor is
it in the debtor's power to defraud the creditor of payment in that
manner; and as tobacco is their coin as well as their product, so all
things are to be purchased at a certain quantity of tobacco, the price
being so rated.

Thus the naked planter has credit at his beginning, and immediately
goes to work to cure the land and plant tobacco; and from this little
beginning have some of the most considerable planters in Virginia, and
in Maryland also, raised themselves--namely, from being without a hat
or a shoe to estates of £40,000 or £50,000; and in this method, I may
add, no diligent man ever miscarried, if he had health to work and was
a good husband; for he every year increases a little, and every year
adding more land and planting more tobacco, which is real money, he
must gradually increase in substance, till at length he gets enough to
buy negroes and other servants, and then never works himself any more.

In a word, every Newgate wretch, every desperate forlorn creature, the
most despicable ruined man in the world, has here a fair opportunity
put into his hands to begin the world again, and that upon a foot of
certain gain and in a method exactly honest, with a reputation that
nothing past will have any effect upon; and innumerable people have
raised themselves from the worst circumstances in the world--namely,
from the cells in Newgate.

But I return to my own story. I was now a planter, and encouraged by a
kind benefactor; for, that I might not be wholly taken up with my new
plantation, he gave me freely, and without any consideration, my
grateful negro, Mouchat. He told me it was a debt due to the affection
that poor creature had always had for me; and so indeed it was, for as
the fellow would once have been hanged for me, so now, and to his
last, he loved me so much that it was apparent he did everything with
pleasure that he did for me; and he was so overcome of joy when he
heard that he was to be my negro that the people in the plantation
really thought it would turn his head, and that the fellow would go
distracted.

Besides this, he sent me two servants more, a man and a woman, but
these he put to my account, as above. Mouchat and these two fell
immediately to work for me, and they began with about two acres of
land which had but little timber on it at first, and most of that was
cut down by the two carpenters who built my house, or shed rather, for
so it should be called.

These two acres I got in good forwardness, and most of it well
planted with tobacco; though some of it we were obliged to plant with
garden-stuff for food, such as potatoes, carrots, cabbages, peas,
beans, &c.

It was a great advantage to me that I had so bountiful a master, who
helped me out in every case; for in this very first year I received a
terrible blow. For my bill, as I have observed, having been copied and
attested in form, and sent to London, my kind friend and custom-house
gentleman paid me the money, and the merchant at London, by my good
master's direction, had laid it all out in a sorted cargo of goods for
me, such as would have made a man of me all at once; but, to my
inexpressible terror and surprise, the ship was lost, and that just at
the entrance into the capes; that is to say, the mouth of the bay.
Some of the goods were recovered, but spoiled; and, in short, nothing
but the nails, tools, and ironwork were good for anything; and though
the value of them was pretty considerable in proportion to the rest,
yet my loss was irreparably great, and indeed the greatness of the
loss to me consisted in its being irreparable.

I was perfectly astonished at the first news of the loss, knowing that
I was in debt to my patron, or master, so much that it must be several
years before I should recover it; and as he brought me the bad news
himself, he perceived my disorder; that is to say, he saw I was in the
utmost confusion and a kind of amazement; and so indeed I was, because
I was so much in debt. But he spoke cheerfully to me. "Come," says he,
"do not be so discouraged; you may make up this loss." "No, sir," says
I; "that never can be, for it is my all, and I shall never be out of
debt." "Well, but," says he, "you have no creditor, however, but me;
and now I remember I once told you I would make a man of you, and I
will not disappoint you for this disaster."

I thanked him, and did it with more ceremony and respect than ever,
because I thought myself more under the hatches than I was before. But
he was as good as his word, for he did not baulk me in the least of
anything I wanted; and as I had more ironwork saved out of the ship,
in proportion, than I wanted, I supplied him with some part of it, and
took up some linen and clothes and other necessaries from him in
exchange.

And now I began to increase visibly. I had a large quantity of land
cured--that is, freed from timber--and a very good crop of tobacco in
view. And I got three servants more and one negro, so that I had five
white servants and two negroes, and with this my affairs went very
well on.

The first year, indeed, I took my wages, or salary--that is to say,
£30 a year--because I wanted it very much; but the second and third
year I resolved not to take it on any account whatsoever, but to leave
it in my benefactor's hands to clear off the debt I had contracted.

And now I must impose a short digression on the reader, to note that
notwithstanding all the disadvantages of a most wretched education,
yet now, when I began to feel myself, as I may say, in the world, and
to be arrived to an independent state, and to foresee that I might be
something considerable in time; I say, now I found different
sentiments of things taking place in my mind. And, first, I had a
solid principle of justice and honesty, and a secret horror at
things past, when I looked back upon my former life. That original
something--I knew not what--that used formerly to check me in the
first meannesses of my youth, and used to dictate to me when I was but
a child that I was to be a gentleman, continued to operate upon me now
in a manner I cannot describe; and I continually remembered the words
of the ancient glassmaker to the gentleman that he reproved for
swearing, that to be a gentleman was to be an honest man; that without
honesty human nature was sunk and degenerated; the gentleman lost all
the dignity of his birth, and placed himself even below an honest
beggar. These principles, growing upon my mind in the present
circumstances I was in, gave me a secret satisfaction that I can give
no description of. It was an inexpressible joy to me that I was now
like to be, not only a man, but an honest man; and it yielded me a
greater pleasure that I was ransomed from being a vagabond, a thief,
and a criminal, as I had been from a child, than that I was delivered
from slavery and the wretched state of a Virginia sold servant. I had
notion enough in my mind of the hardships of the servant, or slave,
because I had felt it and worked through it; I remembered it as a
state of labour and servitude, hardship and suffering. But the other
shocked my very nature, chilled my blood, and turned the very soul
within me; the thought of it was like reflections upon hell and the
damned spirits; it struck me with horror, it was odious and frightful
to look back on, and it gave me a kind of a fit, a convulsion or
nervous disorder, that was very uneasy to me.

But to look forward, to reflect how things were changed, how happy I
was that I could live by my own endeavours, and was no more under the
necessity of being a villain, and of getting my bread at my own hazard
and the ruin of honest families--this had in it something more than
commonly pleasing and agreeable, and, in particular, it had a pleasure
that till then I had known nothing of. It was a sad thing to be under
a necessity of doing evil to procure that subsistence which I could
not support the want of, to be obliged to run the venture of the
gallows rather than the venture of starving, and to be always wicked
for fear of want.

I cannot say that I had any serious religious reflections, or that
these things proceeded yet from the uneasiness of conscience, but from
mere reasonings with myself, and from being arrived to a capacity of
making a right judgment of things more than before. Yet I own I had
such an abhorrence of the wicked life I had led that I was secretly
easy, and had a kind of pleasure in the disaster that was upon me
about the ship, and that, though it was a loss, I could not but be
glad that those ill-gotten goods was gone, and that I had lost what I
had stolen. For I looked on it as none of mine, and that it would be
fire in my flax if I should mingle it with what I had now, which was
come honestly by, and was, as it were, sent from heaven to lay the
foundation of my prosperity, which the other would be only as a moth
to consume.

At the same time my thoughts dictated to me, that though this was the
foundation of my new life, yet that this was not the superstructure,
and that I might still be born for greater things than these; that it
was honesty and virtue alone that made men rich and great, and gave
them a fame as well as a figure in the world, and that therefore I was
to lay my foundation in these, and expect what might follow in time.

To help these thoughts, as I had learned to read and write when I was
in Scotland, so I began now to love books, and particularly I had an
opportunity of reading some very considerable ones, such as Livy's
Roman History, the history of the Turks, the English History of Speed,
and others; the history of the Low Country wars, the history of
Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, and the history of the Spaniards'
conquest of Mexico, with several others, some of which I bought at a
planter's house who was lately dead and his goods sold, and others I
had borrowed.

I considered my present state of life to be my mere youth, though I
was now above thirty years old, because in my youth I had learned
nothing; and if my daily business, which was now great, would have
permitted, I would have been content to have gone to school. However,
fate, that had yet something else in store for me, threw an
opportunity into my hand; namely, a clever fellow that came over a
transported felon from Bristol, and fell into my hands for a servant.
He had led a loose life; that he acknowledged; and being driven to
extremities, took to the highway, for which, had he been taken, he
would have been hanged. But falling into some low-prized rogueries
afterwards, for want of opportunity for worse, was catched, condemned,
and transported, and, as he said, was glad he came off so.

He was an excellent scholar, and I, perceiving it, asked him one time
if he could give a method how I might learn the Latin tongue. He said,
smiling, Yes; he could teach it me in three months, if I would let him
have books, or even without books, if he had time. I told him a book
would become his hands better than a hoe; and if he could promise to
make me but understand Latin enough to read it, and understand other
languages by it, I would ease him of the labour which I was now
obliged to put him to, especially if I was assured that he was fit to
receive that favour of a kind master. In short, I made him to me what
my benefactor made me to him, and from him I gained a fund of
knowledge infinitely more valuable than the rate of a slave, which was
what I had paid for it; but of this hereafter.

With these thoughts I went cheerfully about my work. As I had now five
servants, my plantation went on, though gently, yet safely, and
increased gradually, though slowly. But the third year, with the
assistance of my old benefactor, I purchased two negroes more, so that
now I had seven servants; and having cured land sufficient for supply
of their food, I was at no difficulty to maintain them; so that my
plantation began now to enlarge itself, and as I lived without any
personal expense, but was maintained at my old great master's, as we
called him, and at his charge, with £30 a year besides, so all my
gains was laid up for increase.

In this posture I went on for twelve years, and was very successful in
my plantation, and had gotten, by means of my master's favour, who now
I called my friend, a correspondent in London, with whom I traded,
shipped over my tobacco to him, and received European goods in return,
such as I wanted to carry on my plantation, and sufficient to sell to
others also.

In this interval my good friend and benefactor died, and I was left
very disconsolate on account of my loss; for it was indeed a great
loss to me. He had been a father to me, and I was like a forsaken
stranger without him, though I knew the country, and the trade too,
well enough, and had for some time chiefly carried on his whole
business for him. Yet I seemed now at a loss; my counsellor and my
chief supporter was gone, and I had no confidant to communicate myself
to, on all occasions, as formerly; but there was no remedy. I was,
however, in a better condition to stand alone than ever. I had a very
large plantation, and had near seventy negroes and other servants. In
a word, I was grown really rich, considering my first circumstances,
that began as I may say with nothing; that is to say, I had nothing of
stock, but I had a great beginning, for I had such a man's friendship
and support in my beginning, that indeed I needed no other stock; and
if I had had £500 to have begun with, and not the assistance, advice,
and countenance of such a man, I had not been in a better condition.
But he promised to make a man of me; and so he did, and in one respect
I may say I have merited it of him, for I brought his plantation into
such order, and the government of his negroes into such a regulation,
that if he had given £500 to have had it done, he would have thought
his money well bestowed. His work was always in order, going forward
to his mind; every thing was in a thriving posture; his servants all
loved him, even negroes and all, and yet there was no such thing as a
cruel punishment or severities known among them.

In my own plantation it was the same thing. I wrought so upon the
reason and the affections of my negroes that they served me
cheerfully, and, by consequence, faithfully and diligently; when in my
neighbour's plantation there was not a week hardly passed without such
horrible outcries, roarings and yellings of the servants, either under
torture or in fear of it, that their negroes would, in discourse with
ours, wish themselves dead and gone, as it seems they believed they
should after death, into their own country.

If I met with a sullen, stupid fellow, as sometimes it was
unavoidable, I always parted with him and sold him off; for I would
not keep any that sense of kind usage would not oblige. But I seldom
met with such bad ones; for, by talking to them in a plain reasoning
way, I found the temper of the roughest of them would break and
soften. The sense of their own interest would prevail with them at
first or last; and if it had not, the contrary temper was so general
among my people that their own fellows and countrymen would be against
them, and that served to bring them to reason as soon as any other
thing. And this those who think it worth their while will easily find,
viz., that having prevailed effectually over one leading man among
them to be tractable, and pleased, and grateful, he shall make them
all like him, and that in a little while, with more ease than can be
imagined.

I was now a planter, and also a student. My pedagogue I mentioned
above was very diligent, and proved an extraordinary man indeed. He
taught me not only with application, but with admirable judgment in
the teaching part; for I have seen it in many instances since that
time that every good scholar is not fitted for a schoolmaster, and
that the art of teaching is quite different from that of knowing the
language taught.

But this man had both, and proved of great use to me, and I found
reason, in the worth of the person, to be very kind to him, his
circumstances considered. I once took the liberty to ask him how it
came to pass that he, who must have had a liberal education and great
advantages to have advanced him in the world, should be capable of
falling into such miserable circumstances as he was in when he came
over. I used some caution in entering upon an inquiry which, as I
said, might not be pleasant to him to relate, but that I would make
him amends by telling him, that if he desired not to enter into it
with me, I would readily excuse him, and would not take it ill at all.
This I did because to a man under such afflictions one should always
be tender, and not put them upon relating anything of themselves which
was grievous to them or which they had rather was concealed.

But he told me that it was true, that to look back upon his past life
was indeed _renovare dolorem_; but that such mortifications were now
useful to him, to help forward that repentance which he hoped he was
sincerely entered upon; and that though it was with horror he looked
back upon misspent time and ill-applied gifts which a bountiful
Creator had blessed him with, and spared to him for a better improvement,
yet he thought he ought to load himself with as much of the shame as it
pleased God to make his lot, since he had already loaded himself with
the guilt in a shameless manner, till God, he still hoped in mercy to
him, had cut him short and brought him to public disgrace; though he
could not say he had been brought to justice, for then he had been sent
into eternity in despair, and not been sent to Virginia to repent of the
wickedest life that ever man lived. He would have gone on, but I found
his speech interrupted by a passionate struggle within, between his
grief and his tears.

I took no more notice of it than to tell him that I was sorry I had
asked him about it, but that it was my curiosity. When I saw that
ignorant, untaught, untractable creatures come into misery and shame,
I made no inquiry after their affairs; but when I saw men of parts and
learning take such steps, I concluded it must be occasioned by
something exceeding wicked. "So, indeed," said he, "the judge said to
me when I begged mercy of him in Latin. He told me that when a man
with such learning falls into such crimes he is more inexcusable than
other men, because, his learning recommending him, he could not want
advantages and had the less temptation to crimes."

"But, sir," said he, "I believe my case was what I find is the case of
most of the wicked part of the world, viz., that to be reduced to
necessity is to be wicked; for necessity is not only the temptation,
but is such a temptation as human nature is not empowered to resist.
How good, then," says he, "is that God which takes from you, sir, the
temptation, by taking away the necessity!"

I was so sensible of the truth of what he said, knowing it by my own
case, that I could not enter any further upon the discourse; but he
went on voluntarily. "This, sir," says he, "I am so sensible of that I
think the case I am reduced to much less miserable than the life which
I lived before, because I am delivered from the horrid necessity of
doing such ill things which was my ruin and disaster then, even for my
bread, and am not now obliged to ravish my bread out of the mouths of
others by violence and disorder, but am fed, though I am made to earn
it by the hard labour of my hands, and I thank God for the
difference." He paused here, but went on thus:--

"How much is the life of a slave in Virginia to be preferred to that
of the most prosperous thief in the world! Here I live miserable, but
honest; suffer wrong, but do no wrong; my body is punished, but my
conscience is not loaded; and as I used to say that I had no leisure
to look in, but I would begin when I had some recess, some time to
spare, now God has found me leisure to repent." He run on in this
manner a great while, giving thanks, I believe most heartily, for his
being delivered from the wretched life he had lived, though his misery
were to be tenfold as much as it was.

I was sincerely touched with his discourse on this subject. I had
known so much of the real difference of the case that I could not but
be affected with it, though till now, I confess, I knew little of the
religious part. I had been an offender as well as he, though not
altogether in the same degree, but I knew nothing of the penitence;
neither had I looked back upon anything as a crime, but as a life
dishonourable and not like a gentleman, which run much in my thoughts,
as I have several times mentioned.

"Well, but now," says I, "you talk penitently, and I hope you are
sincere; but what would be your case if you were delivered from the
miserable condition of a slave sold for money, which you are now in?
Should you not, think you, be the same man?"

"Blessed be God," says he, "that, if I thought I should, I would
sincerely pray that I might not be delivered, and that I might for
ever be a slave rather than a sinner."

"Well, but," says I, "suppose you to be under the same necessity, in
the same starving condition, should you not take the same course?"

He replied very sharply, "That shows us the need we have of the
petition in the Lord's prayer, 'Lead us not into temptation;' and of
Solomon's or Agar's prayer, 'Give me not poverty, lest I steal.' I
should ever beg of God not to be left to such snares as human nature
cannot resist. But I have some hope, that I should venture to starve
rather than to steal; but I also beg to be delivered from the danger,
because I know not my own strength."

This was honestly spoken, indeed; and there really were such visible
tokens of sincerity in all his discourse that I could not suspect him.
On some of our discourses on this subject, he pulled out a little
dirty paper-book, in which he had wrote down such a prayer in verse as
I doubt few Christians in the world could subscribe to; and I cannot
but record it, because I never saw anything like it in my life. The
lines are as follow:--


    "Lord! whatsoever sorrows rack my breast,
     Till crime removes too, let me find no rest;
     How dark soe'er my state or sharp my pain,
     Oh! let not troubles cease and sin remain.
     For Jesus' sake remove not my distress,
     Till free triumphant grace shall repossess
     The vacant throne from whence my sins depart,
     And make a willing captive of my heart;
     Till grace completely shall my soul subdue,
     Thy conquest full and my subjection true."


There were more lines on the same subject, but these were the
beginning; and these touching me so sensibly, I have remembered them
distinctly ever since, and have, I believe, repeated them to myself a
thousand times.

I pressed him no more, you may be sure, after an answer so very
particular and affecting as this was. It was easy to see the man was a
sincere penitent, not sorrowing for the punishment he was suffering
under; for his condition was no part of his affliction; he was rather
thankful for it, as above; but his concern was a feeling and affecting
sense of the wicked and abominable life he had led, the abhorred
crimes he had committed both against God and man, and the little sense
he had had of the condition he was in, and that even till he came to
the place where he now was.

I asked him if he had no reflections of this kind after or before his
sentence. He told me Newgate (for the prison at Bristol is called so,
it seems, as well as that at London) was a place that seldom made
penitents, but often made villains worse, till they learnt to defy God
and devil; but that, however, he could look back with this
satisfaction, that he could say he was not altogether insensible of it
even then; but nothing that amounted to a thorough serious looking up
to heaven; that he often indeed looked in, and reflected upon his past
misspent life, even before he was in prison, when the intervals of his
wicked practices gave some time for reflection, and he would sometimes
say to himself, "Whither am I going? to what will all these things
bring me at last? and where will they end? Sin and shame follow one
another, and I shall certainly come to the gallows. Then," said he, "I
would strike upon my breast, and say, 'O wicked wretch! when will you
repent?' and would answer myself as often, 'Never! never! never!
except it be in a gaol or at a gibbet.'

"Then," said he, "I would weep and sigh, and look back a little upon
my wretched life, the history of which would make the world amazed;
but, alas! the prospect was so dark, and it filled me with so much
terror, that I could not bear it. Then I would fly to wine and company
for relief; that wine brought on excess, and that company, being
always wicked company like yourself, brought on temptation, and then
all reflection vanished and I was the same devil as before."

He spoke this with so much affection that his face was ever smiling
when he talked of it, and yet his eyes had tears standing in them at
the same time, and all the time; for he had a delightful sorrow, if
that be a proper expression, in speaking of it.

This was a strange relation to me, and began to affect me after a
manner that I did not understand. I loved to hear him talk of it, and
yet it always left a kind of a dead lump behind it upon my heart,
which I could give no reason for, nor imagine to what it should tend;
I had a heaviness on my soul, without being able to describe it or to
say what ailed me.

Well, he went on with his relation. "After this," says he, "I fell
into the hands of a justice for a trifle, a piece of sport in our
crime; and I, that for a hundred robberies, as well on the highway as
otherwise, the particulars of which would fill a book to give an
account of, ought, whenever I was taken, to be hanged in chains, and
who, if it had been public, could not have failed of having twenty
people come in against me, was privately hurried into a country gaol
under a wrong name; tried for a small fact, within benefit of clergy,
and in which I was not principally guilty, and by this means obtained
the favour of being transported.

"And what think you," said he, "has most sensibly affected me, and
brought on the blessed change that, I hope I may say, God has wrought
in my soul? Not the greatness of my crimes, but the wonders of that
merciful Providence, which, when it has mercy in store for a man,
often brings him into the briers, into sorrow and misery for lesser
sins, that men may be led to see how they are spared from the
punishment due to them for the greater guilt which they know lies upon
them. Do you think that when I received the grant of transportation I
could be insensible what a miracle of divine goodness such a thing
must be to one who had so many ways deserved to be hanged, and must
infallibly have died if my true name had been known, or if the least
notice had been given that it was such a notorious wretch as I that
was in custody? There began the first motive of repentance; for
certainly the goodness of our great Creator in sparing us, when we
forfeit our lives to His justice, and His merciful bringing us out of
the miseries which we plunge ourselves into, when we have no way to
extricate ourselves; His bringing those very miseries to be the means
of our deliverance, and working good to us out of evil, when we are
working the very evil out of His good; I say, these things are
certainly the strongest motives to repentance that are in the world,
and the sparing thieves from the gallows certainly makes more
penitents than the gallows itself.

"It is true," continued he, "that the terror of punishment works
strongly upon the mind; in view of death men are filled with horror of
soul, and immediately they call that repentance which I doubt is too
often mistaken, being only a kind of anguish in the soul, which breeds
a grief for the punishment that is to be suffered--an amazement
founded upon the dreadful view of what is to follow. But the sense of
mercy is quite another thing; this seizes all the passions and all the
affections, and works a sincere, unfeigned abhorrence of the crime, as
a crime, as an offence against our Benefactor, as an act of baseness
and ingratitude to Him who has given us life and all the blessings and
comforts of life, and who has conquered us by continuing to do us
good, when He has been provoked to destroy us.

"This, sir," says he, "has been the fountain of that repentance which
I so much rejoice in; this is the delightful sorrow," says he, "that I
spoke of just now; and this makes smiles sit on my face while tears
run from my eyes, a joy that I can no otherwise express than by
telling you, sir, that I never lived a happy day since I came to an
age of acting in the world till I landed in this country, and worked
in your plantation, naked and hungry, weary and faint, oppressed with
cold in one season, and heat in the other. Then I began to see into my
own ways, and see the difference between the hardships of the body and
the torment of the mind. Before I revelled in fulness, and here I
struggled with hard fare; then I wallowed in sloth and voluptuous
ease; here I laboured till nature sometimes was just sinking under the
load; but with this difference in the felicity of either case, namely,
that there I had a hell in my soul, was filled with horror and
confusion, was a daily terror to myself, and always expected a
miserable end; whereas here I had a blessed calm of soul, an emblem
and forerunner of heaven, thankful and humble, adoring that mercy that
had snatched me out of the jaws of the devil. These took up my
thoughts, and made my most weary hours pleasant to me, my labour
light, and my heart cheerful. I never lay down on my hard lodging but
I praised God with the greatest excess of affection, not only that it
was not the condemned hole, and that I was delivered from the death I
had deserved, but that it was not Shooter's Hill; that I was not still
a robber, a terror to just and honest men, a plunderer of the innocent
and the poor, a thief, and a villain, that ought to be rooted out from
the earth for the safety of others; but that I was delivered from the
horrid temptation of sinning to support my luxury, and making one vice
necessary to another; and this, I bear witness, is sufficient to
sweeten the bitterest sorrow, and make any man be thankful for
Virginia, or a worse place, if that can be."

He then entertained me with an opinion of his, that if it were
possible for the face of heaven and hell to be disclosed and laid
open, and that men could be made capable of seeing distinctly and
separately the joys and glory and utmost felicity of one, and the
horrors of the other, and to make a judgment of both according to the
power of human reasoning, the first would have a stronger and more
powerful effect to reform the world than the latter; but this we had
further discourses about on many occasions.

If it should be inquired how I was capable of hearing all this, and
having no impressions made upon my mind by it, especially when it so
many ways suited my own case, and the condition of the former part of
my life, I shall answer that presently by myself. However, I took no
notice of it to him, for he had quite other notions of me than I had
of myself; nor did I, as is usual in such cases, enter into any
confidence with him on my own story, only that I took sometimes the
occasion to let him know that I did not come over to Virginia in the
capacity of a criminal, or that I was not transported; which,
considering how many of the inhabitants there were so who then lived
in good circumstances, was needful enough to be done.

But as to myself, it was enough that I was in condition now; 'twas no
matter to anybody what I had been; and as it was grown pretty much out
of memory from what original disaster I came into the country, or that
I was ever a servant otherwise than voluntary, and that it was no
business of mine to expose myself, so I kept that part close. But for
all that, it was impossible for me to conceal the disorder I was in as
often as he talked of these things. I had hitherto gone on upon a
notion of things founded only in their appearance, as they affected me
with good or evil, esteeming the happy and unhappy part of life to be
those that gave me ease or sorrow, without regarding, or indeed much
understanding, how far those turns of life were influenced by the
Giver of Life, or how far they were all directed by a sovereign God
that governs the world, and all the creatures he had made.

As I had no education but as you have heard, so I had had no
instruction, no knowledge of religion, or indeed of the meaning of it;
and though I was now in a kind of search after religion, it was a mere
looking, as it were, into the world to see what kind of a thing or
place it was, and what had been done in it. But as to Him that made
it, there had truly been scarce a creature among all that He had made,
with souls in them, that were so entirely without the knowledge of God
as I was, and made so little inquiry about it.

But the serious, affectionate discourse of this young man began to
have different effects upon me, and I began to say to myself, "This
man's reflections are certainly very just; but what a creature am I,
and what have I been doing!--I that never once did this in all my
life; that never said so much--'God, I thank Thee for all that I have
been saved from, or all that I have been brought to in this world;'
and yet my life has been as full of variety, and I have been as
miraculously delivered from dangers and mischiefs, and as many of
them, as ever he has. And if it has all been brought to pass by an
invisible hand in mercy to me, what have I been doing, and where have
I lived, that I only should be the most thoughtless and unthankful of
all God's creatures?"

This, indeed, began to grow upon me, and made me very melancholy; but
as to religion, I understood so little about it that if I had resolved
upon any such thing as a new course of life, or to set about a
religious change, I knew not at which end to begin or what to do about
it.

One day it happened that my tutor--for so I always called him--had the
Bible in his hand, and was looking in it, as he generally did many
times every day, though I knew not for what. Seeing the Bible, I took
it out of his hands, and went to look in it, which I had done so
little before that I think I might safely say I had never read a
chapter in it in all my life. He was talking of the Bible then as a
book only, and where he had it, and how he brought it to Virginia, and
in some ecstasy he took and kissed it. "This blessed book!" says he;
"this was all the treasure I brought out from England with me. And a
comfortable treasure it has been to me," added he; "I would not have
been without it in my sorrows for any other treasure in the world;"
and so he went on at large.

I, that had no notion of what he meant--only, as I have said above,
some young infant thoughts about the works of Providence in the world
and its merciful dealings with me--took the book out of his hand and
went to look in it; and the book opened at the Acts xxvi. 28, where
Felix says to St. Paul, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian."
"I think," says I, "here's a line hits me to a tittle, upon the long
account you have given of yourself, and I must say them to you, as the
governor here said;" and so I read the words to him. He blushed at the
text, and returns, "I wish I could answer you in the very words the
Apostle returned to him in the next verse: 'I would thou wert both
almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds.'"

I was now more than thirty years old by my own account, and as well as
it was possible for me to keep a reckoning of my age, who had nobody
left that ever knew my beginning; I was, I say, above thirty years
old, and had gone through some variety in the world. But as I was
perfectly abandoned in my infancy, and utterly without instruction in
my youth, so I was entirely ignorant of everything that was worthy the
name of religion in the world; and this was the first time that ever
any notion of religious things entered into my heart. I was surprised
at this man's talk, and that several ways particularly he talked so
feelingly of his past circumstances, and they were so like my own,
that every time he made a religious inference from his own condition,
and argued from one condition of his to another, it struck into my
thoughts like a bullet from a gun that I had certainly as much to be
thankful for and to repent of as he had, except only that I had no
knowledge of better things to be thankful for, which he had. But in
return for that, I was delivered and set up in the world, made a
master, and easy, and was in good circumstances, being raised from the
very same low, distressed condition as he was in--I mean a sold
servant--but that he remained so still; so that, if his sin had been
greater than mine, so his distress was still greater.

This article of gratitude struck deep and lay heavy upon my mind. I
remembered that I was grateful to the last degree to my old master,
who had raised me from my low condition, and that I loved the very
name of him, or, as might be said, the very ground he trod on; but I
had not so much as once thought of any higher obligation; no, nor so
much as, like the Pharisee, had said once, "God, I thank thee," to
Him, for all the influence which His providence must have had in my
whole affair.

It occurred to me presently that if none of all these things befall us
without the direction of a Divine Power, as my new instructor had told
me at large, and that God had ordered everything, the most minute and
least transaction of life, insomuch that not a hair of our head shall
fall to the ground without His permission; I say, it occurred to me
that I had been a most unthankful dog to that Providence that had done
so much for me; and the consequence of the reflection was immediately
this: how justly may that Power, so disobliged, take away again His
wool and His flax, with which I am now clothed, and reduce me to the
misery of my first circumstances.

This perplexed me much, and I was very pensive and sad; in which,
however, my new instructor was a constant comforter to me, and I
learned every day something or other from him; upon which I told him
one morning that I thought be must leave off teaching me Latin, and
teach me religion. He spoke with a great deal of modesty of his being
incapable of informing me of anything that I did not know, and
proposed to me to read the Scriptures every day, as the sure and only
fund of instruction. I answered that, in the words of the eunuch to
St. Philip when the apostle asked him if he understood what he read:
"How can I, unless some one guide me?"

We talked frequently upon this subject, and I found so much reason to
believe he was a sincere convert that I can speak of him as no other
in all I have to say of him. However, I cannot say my thoughts were
yet ripened for an operation of that kind. I had some uneasiness about
my past life, and I lived now, and had done so before I knew him, a
very regular, sober life, always taken up in my business and running
into no excesses. But as to commencing penitent, as this man had done,
I cannot say I had any convictions upon me sufficient to bring it on,
nor had I a fund of religious knowledge to support me in it. So it
wore off again gradually, as such things generally do where the first
impressions are not deep enough.

In the meantime, as he read over long lectures of his own disasters to
me, and applied them all seriously to me, so our discourse was always
very solid and weighty, and we had nothing of levity between us, even
when we were not concerned in religious discourses. He read history to
me; and, where books were wanting, he gave me ideas of those things
which had not been recorded by our modern histories, or at least that
our number of books would not reach. By these things he raised an
unquenchable thirst in me, after seeing something that was doing in
the world; and the more because all the world was at that time
engaged, more or less, in the great war wherein the French king might
be said to be engaged with and against all the powers of Europe.

Now, I looked upon myself as one buried alive in a remote part of the
world, where I could see nothing at all, and hear but a little of what
was seen, and that little not till at least half a year after it was
done, and sometimes a year or more; and, in a word, the old reproach
often came in the way--namely, that even this was not yet the life of
a gentleman.

It was true that this was much nearer to it than that of a pickpocket,
and still nearer than that of a sold slave; but, in short, this would
not do, and I could receive no satisfaction in it. I had now a second
plantation, a very considerable one, and it went forward very well. I
had on it almost a hundred servants already of sundry sorts, and an
overseer that I had a great deal of reason to say I might depend upon,
and but that I had a third in embryo, and newly begun, I had nothing
to hinder me from going where I pleased.

However, I now began to frame my thoughts for a voyage to England,
resolving then to act as I should see cause, but with a secret
resolution to see more of the world if possible, and realise those
things to my mind which I had hitherto only entertained remote ideas
of by the help of books.

Accordingly I pushed forward the settlement of my third plantation, in
order to bring it to be in a posture either to be let to a tenant or
left in trust with an overseer, as I should find occasion.

Had I resolved to leave it to an overseer or steward, no man in the
world could have been fit for it like my tutor; but I could not think
of parting with him, who was the cause of my desire of travelling, and
who I concluded to make my partner in my travels.



END OF VOL. I.






THE LIFE OF COLONEL JACQUE.


It was three years after this before I could get things in order, fit
for my leaving the country. In this time I delivered my tutor from his
bondage, and would have given him his liberty, but, to my great
disappointment, I found that I could not empower him to go for England
till his time was expired, according to the certificate of his
transportation, which was registered; so I made him one of my
overseers, and thereby raised him gradually to a prospect of living in
the same manner and by the like steps that my good benefactor raised
me, only that I did not assist him to enter upon planting for himself
as I was assisted, neither was I upon the spot to do it. But this
man's diligence and honest application, even unassisted, delivered
himself, [though not] any farther than, as I say, by making him an
overseer, which was only a present ease and deliverance to him from
the hard labour and fare which he endured as a servant.

However, in this trust he behaved so faithfully and so diligently that
it recommended him in the country; and when I came back I found him in
circumstances very different from what I left him in, besides his
being my principal manager for near twenty years, as you shall hear in
its place.

I mention these things the more at large that, if any unhappy wretch
who may have the disaster to fall into such circumstances as these may
come to see this account, they may learn the following short lessons
from these examples:--

I. That Virginia and a state of transportation may be the happiest
place and condition they were ever in for this life, as, by a sincere
repentance and a diligent application to the business they are put to,
they are effectually delivered from a life of flagrant wickedness and
put in a perfect new condition, in which they have no temptation to
the crimes they formerly committed, and have a prospect of advantage
for the future.

II. That in Virginia the meanest and most despicable creature, after
his time of servitude is expired, if he will but apply himself with
diligence and industry to the business of the country, is sure (life
and health supposed) both of living well and growing rich.

As this is a foundation which the most unfortunate wretch alive is
entitled to, a transported felon is, in my opinion, a much happier man
than the most prosperous untaken thief in the nation. Nor are those
poor young people so much in the wrong as some imagine them to be that
go voluntarily over to those countries, and in order to get themselves
carried over and placed there, freely bind themselves there,
especially if the persons into whose hands they fall do anything
honestly by them; for, as it is to be supposed that those poor people
knew not what course to take before, or had miscarried in their
conduct before, here they are sure to be immediately provided for,
and, after the expiration of their time, to be put in a condition to
provide for themselves. But I return to my own story, which now begins
a new scene.

I was now making provision for my going to England. After having
settled my plantation in such hands as was fully to my satisfaction,
my first work was to furnish myself with such a stock of goods and
money as might be sufficient for my occasions abroad, and particularly
might allow me to make large returns to Maryland, for the use and
supply of all my plantations. But when I came to look nearer into the
voyage, it occurred to me that it would not be prudent to put my cargo
all on board the same ship that I went in; so I shipped at several
times five hundred hogsheads of tobacco in several ships for England,
giving notice to my correspondent in London that I would embark about
such a time to come over myself, and ordering him to insure for a
considerable sum, proportioned to the value of my cargo.

About two months after this I left the place, and embarked for England
in a stout ship, carrying twenty-four guns and about six hundred
hogsheads of tobacco, and we left the capes of Virginia on the 1st of
August. We had a very sour and rough voyage for the first fortnight,
though it was in a season so generally noted for good weather.

After we had been about eleven days at sea, having the wind most part
of the time blowing very hard at west, or between the west and
north-west, by which we were carried a great way farther to the
eastward than they usually go in their course for England, we met with
a furious tempest, which held us five days, blowing most of the time
excessive hard, and by which we were obliged to run away afore the
wind, as the seamen call it, wheresoever it was our lot to go. By this
storm our ship was greatly damaged, and some leaks we had, but not so
bad that by the diligence of the seamen they were stopped. However,
the captain, after having beaten up again as well as he could against
the weather, and the sea going very high, at length he resolved to go
away for the Bermudas.

I was not seaman enough to understand what the reason of their
disputes was, but in their running for the islands it seems they
overshot the latitude, and could never reach the islands of Bermudas
again. The master and the mate differed to an extremity about this,
their reckonings being more than usually wide of one another, the
storm having driven them a little out of their knowledge. The master,
being a positive man, insulted the mate about it, and threatened to
expose him for it when he came to England. The mate was an excellent
sea artist and an experienced sailor, but withal a modest man, and
though he insisted upon his being right, did it in respectful terms
and as it became him. But after several days' dispute, when the
weather came to abate and the heavens to clear up, that they could
take their observations and know where they were, it appeared that the
mate's account was right, and the captain was mistaken; for they were
then in the latitude of 29 degrees, and quite out of the wake of the
Bermudas.

The mate made no indecent use of the discovery at all, and the
captain, being convinced, carried it civilly to him, and so the heats
were over among them; but the next question was, what they should do
next. Some were for going one way, some another; but all agreed that
they were not in a condition to go on the direct course for England,
unless they could have a southerly or south-west wind, which had not
been our fate since we came to sea.

Upon the whole, they resolved by consent to steer away to the
Canaries, which was the nearest land they could make except the Cape
de Verde Islands, which were too much to the southward for us, if it
could be avoided.

Upon this they stood away N.E., and the wind hanging still westerly,
or to the northward of the west, we made good way, and in about
fifteen days' sail we made the Pico Teneriffe, being a monstrous hill
in one of the Canary Islands. Here we refreshed ourselves, got fresh
water and some fresh provisions, and plenty of excellent wine, but no
harbour to run into, to take care of the ship, which was leaky and
tender, having had so much very bad weather; so we were obliged to do
as well as we could, and put to sea again, after riding at the
Canaries four days only.

From the Canaries we had tolerable weather and a smooth sea till we
came into the soundings--so they call the mouth of the British
Channel--and the wind blowing hard at the N. and the N.W. obliged us
to keep a larger offing, as the seamen call it, at our entrance into
the Channel; when, behold! in the grey of the morning a French cruiser
or privateer of twenty-six guns appeared, and crowded after us with
all the sail they could make. In short, our captain exchanged a
broadside or two with them, which was terrible work to me, for I had
never seen such before, the Frenchman's guns having raked us, and
killed and wounded six of our best men.

In short, after a fight long enough to show us that if we would not be
taken we must resolve to sink by her side, for there was no room to
expect deliverance, and a fight long enough to save the master's
credit, we were taken, and the ship carried away to St. Malo.

I was not much concerned for the loss I had in the ship, because I
knew I had sufficient in the world somewhere or other; but as I was
effectually stripped of everything I had about me, and even almost my
clothes from my back, I was in but a very indifferent condition. But
somebody informing the captain of the privateer, that I was a
passenger and a merchant, he called for me and inquired into my
circumstances, and coming to hear from myself how I had been used,
obliged the seamen to give me a coat and hat and a pair of shoes,
which they had taken off me, and himself gave me a morning gown of his
own to wear while I was in his ship, and, to give him his due, treated
me very well.

I had, however, besides my being taken, the mortification to be
detained on board the cruiser, and seeing the ship I was in manned
with Frenchmen and sent away, as above, for St. Malo; and this was a
greater mortification to me afterwards, when, being brought into St.
Malo, I heard that our own ship was retaken in her passage to St. Malo
by an English man-of-war and carried to Portsmouth.

When our ship was sent away the _Rover_ cruised abroad again in the
mouth of the Channel for some time, but met with no purchase. At last
they made a sail, which proved to be one of their nation and one of
their own trade, from whom they learned, the news having been carried
to England that some French privateers lay off and on in the
soundings, that three English men-of-war were come out from Plymouth
on purpose to cruise in the Channel, and that they would certainly
meet with us. Upon this intelligence the Frenchman, a bold, brave
fellow, far from shrinking from his work, stands away N.E. for St.
George's Channel, and in the latitude of 48 degrees and a half,
unhappily enough, meets with a large and rich English ship, bound home
from Jamaica. It was in the grey of the morning, and very clear, when
a man on the roundtop cried out, "_Au voile_, a sail." I was in hopes
indeed it had been the English men-of-war, and by the hurry and
clutter they were in to get all ready for a fight, I concluded it was
so, and got out of my hammock (for I had no cabin to lie in) that I
might see what it was; but I soon found that my hopes were in vain,
and it was on the wrong side; for that that being on our larboard bow,
the ship lying then northward to make the coast of Ireland, by the
time I was turned out I could perceive they had all their sails bent
and full, having begun to chase, and making great way. On the other
hand, it was evident the ship saw them too, and knew what they were,
and, to avoid them, stretched away with all the canvas they could lay
on for the coast of Ireland, to run in there for harbour.

Our privateer, it was plain, infinitely outsailed her, running two
foot for her one, and towards evening came up with them. Had they been
able to have held it but six hours longer they would have got into
Limerick River, or somewhere under shore, so that we should not have
ventured upon them. But we came up with them, and the captain, when he
saw there was no remedy, bravely brought to and prepared to fight. She
was a ship of thirty guns, but deep in the sea, cumbered between decks
with goods, and could not run out her lower-deck guns, the sea also
going pretty high, though at last she ventured to open her gun-room
ports and fire with three guns on a side. But her worst fate was, she
sailed heavy, being deep loaden, and the Frenchman had run up by her
side and poured in his broadside, and was soon ready again. However,
as she was well manned too, and that the English sailors bestirred
themselves, they gave us their broadsides too very nimbly and
heartily, and I found the Frenchman had a great many men killed at the
first brush. But the next was worse, for the English ship, though she
did not sail so well as the Frenchman, was a bigger ship and strong
built, and as we (the French) bore down upon them again, the English
run boldly on board us, and laid thwart our hawse, lashing themselves
fast to us. Then it was that the English captain run out his lower
tier of guns, and indeed tore the Frenchman so, that, had he held it,
the privateer would have had the worst of it. But the Frenchman, with
admirable readiness, indeed, and courage, the captain appearing
everywhere with his sword in his hand, bestirred themselves, and
loosing themselves from the English ship, thrusting her off with
brooms, and pouring their small shot so thick that the other could not
appear upon deck; I say, clearing themselves thus, they came to lie
a-broadside of each other, when, by long firing, the English ship was
at length disabled, her mizzen-mast and bowsprit shot away, and, which
was worst of all, her captain killed; so that, after a fight which
held all night--for they fought in the dark--and part of the next day,
they were obliged to strike.

I was civilly desired by the French captain to go down into the hold
while the fight held, and, besides the civility of it, I found he was
not willing I should be upon deck. Perhaps he thought I might have
some opportunity to do hurt, though I know not how it could be.
However, I was very ready to go down, for I had no mind to be killed,
especially by my own friends; so I went down and sat by the surgeon,
and had the opportunity to find that, the first broadside the English
fired, seven wounded men were brought down to the surgeon, and
three-and-thirty more afterwards, that is to say, when the English lay
thwart their bow; and after they cleared themselves there were about
eleven more; so that they had one-and-fifty men wounded and about
two-and-twenty killed. The Englishman had eighteen men killed and
wounded, among whom was the captain.

The French captain, however, triumphed in his prize; for it was an
exceeding rich ship, having abundance of silver on board. And after
the ship was taken and they had plundered all the great cabin
afforded, which was very considerable, the mate promised the captain
that, if he would give him his liberty, he would discover six thousand
pieces of eight to him privately, which none of the men should know
of. The captain engaged, and gave it under his hand to set him at
liberty as soon as he came on shore. Accordingly, in the night, after
all was either turned in, as they call it, or employed on the duty of
the watch, the captain and the mate of the prize went on board, and
having faithfully discovered the money, which lay in a place made on
purpose to conceal it, the captain resolved to let it lie till they
arrived, and then he conveyed it on shore for his own use; so that the
owners, nor the seamen, ever came to any share of it, which, by the
way, was a fraud in the captain. But the mate paid his ransom by the
discovery, and the captain gave him his liberty very punctually, as he
had promised, and two hundred pieces of eight to carry him to England
and to make good his losses.

When he had made this prize, the captain thought of nothing more than
how to get safe to France with her, for she was a ship sufficient to
enrich all his men and his owners also. The account of her cargo, by
the captain's books, of which I took a copy, was in general:


       260 hogsheads of sugar.
       187 smaller casks of sugar.
       176 barrels of indigo.
        28 casks of pimento.
        42 bags of cotton wool.
        80 cwt. of elephants' teeth.
        60 small casks of rum.
    18,000 pieces of eight, besides the six thousand concealed.
Several parcels of drugs, tortoise-shell, sweetmeats, called succades,
chocolate, lime juice, and other things of considerable value.


This was a terrible loss among the English merchants, and a noble
booty for the rogues that took it; but as it was in open war and by
fair fighting, as they call it, there was no objection to be made
against them, and, to give them their due, they fought bravely for it.

The captain was not so bold as to meeting the English men-of-war
before, but he was as wary now; for, having a prize of such value in
his hands, he was resolved not to lose her again, if he could help it.
So he stood away to the southward, and that so far that I once thought
he was resolved to go into the Straits, and home by Marseilles. But
having sailed to the latitude of 45 degrees 3 quarters, or
thereabouts, he steered away east, into the bottom of the Bay of
Biscay, and carried us all into the river of Bordeaux, where, on
notice of his arrival with such a prize, his owners or principals came
overland to see him, and where they consulted what to do with her. The
money they secured, to be sure, and some of the cargo; but the ships
sailed afterwards along the coast to St. Malo, taking the opportunity
of some French men-of-war which were cruising on the coast to be their
convoy as far as Ushant.

Here the captain rewarded and dismissed the English mate, as I have
said, who got a passage from thence to Dieppe by sea, and after that
into England, by the help of a passport, through Flanders to Ostend.
The captain, it seems, the more willingly shipped him off that he
might not discover to others what he had discovered to him.

I was now at Bordeaux, in France, and the captain asked me one morning
what I intended to do. I did not understand him at first, but he soon
gave me to understand that I was now either to be delivered up to the
state as an English prisoner, and so be carried to Dinan, in Brittany,
or to find means to have myself exchanged, or to pay my ransom, and
this ransom he told me at first was three hundred crowns.

I knew not what to do, but desired he would give me time to write to
England to my friends; for that I had a cargo of goods sent to them by
me from Virginia, but I did not know but it might have fallen into
such hands as his were, and if it was, I knew not what would be my
fate. He readily granted that; so I wrote by the post, and had the
satisfaction, in answer to it, to hear that the ship I was taken in
had been retaken, and carried into Portsmouth; which I doubted would
have made my new master more strict, and perhaps insolent; but he said
nothing of it to me, nor I to him, though, as I afterwards understood,
he had advice of it before.

However, this was a help to me, and served to more than pay my ransom
to the captain. And my correspondent in London, hearing of my being
alive and at Bordeaux, immediately sent me a letter of credit upon an
English merchant at Bordeaux for whatever I might have occasion for.
As soon as I received this I went to the merchant, who honoured the
letter of credit, and told me I should have what money I pleased. But
as I, who was before a mere stranger in the place and knew not what
course to take, had now, as it were, a friend to communicate my
affairs to and consult with, as soon as I told him my case, "Hold,"
says he; "if that be your case, I may perhaps find a way to get you
off without a ransom."

There was, it seems, a ship bound home to France from Martinico, taken
off Cape Finisterre by an English man-of-war, and a merchant of
Rochelle, being a passenger, was taken on board, and brought into
Plymouth. This man had made great solicitation by his friends to be
exchanged, pleading poverty, and that he was unable to pay any ransom.
My friend told me something of it, but not much, only bade me not be
too forward to pay any money to the captain, but pretend I could not
hear from England. This I did till the captain appeared impatient.

After some time the captain told me I had used him ill; that I had
made him expect a ransom, and he had treated me courteously and been
at expense to subsist me, and that I held him in suspense, but that,
in short, if I did not procure the money, he would send me to Dinan in
ten days, to lie there as the king's prisoner till I should be
exchanged. My merchant gave me my cue, and by his direction I answered
I was very sensible of his civility, and sorry he should lose what
expenses he had been at, but that I found my friends forgot me, and
what to do I did not know, and that, rather than impose upon him, I
must submit to go to Dinan, or where he thought fit to send me; but
that if ever I obtained my liberty, and came into England, I would not
fail to reimburse him what expense he had been at for my subsistence;
and so, in short, made my case very bad in all my discourse. He shook
his head and said little, but the next day entered me in the list of
English prisoners to be at the king's charge, as appointed by the
intendant of the place, and to be sent away into Brittany.

I was then out of the captain's power, and immediately the merchant,
with two others who were friends to the merchant prisoner at Plymouth,
went to the intendant and gained an order for the exchange, and my
friend giving security for my being forthcoming, in case the other was
not delivered, I had my liberty immediately, and went home with him to
his house.

Thus we bilked the captain of his ransom money. But, however, my
friend went to him, and letting him know that I was exchanged by the
governor's order, paid him whatever he could say he was in disburse on
my account; and it was not then in the captain's power to object, or
to claim anything for a ransom.

I got passage from hence to Dunkirk on board a French vessel, and
having a certificate of an exchanged prisoner from the intendent at
Bordeaux, I had a passport given me to go into the Spanish
Netherlands, and so whither I pleased.

Accordingly I came to Ghent, in April----, just as the armies were
going to take the field. I had no dislike to the business of the army,
but I thought I was a little above it now, and had other things to
look to; for that, in my opinion, nobody went into the field but those
that could not live at home. And yet I resolved to see the manner of
it a little too, so, having made an acquaintance with an English
officer quartered at Ghent, I told him my intention, and he invited me
to go with him, and offered me his protection as a volunteer, that I
should quarter with him in his tent, and live as I would, and either
carry arms or not, as I saw occasion.

The campaign was none of the hardest that had been, or was like to be;
so that I had the diversion of seeing the service, as it was proper to
call it, without much hazard. Indeed I did not see any considerable
action, for there was not much fighting that campaign. As to the merit
of the cause on either side, I knew nothing of it, nor had I suffered
any of the disputes about it to enter into my thoughts. The Prince of
Orange had been made king of England, and the English troops were all
on his side; and I heard a great deal of swearing and damning for King
William among the soldiers. But as for fighting, I observed the French
beat them several times, and particularly the regiment my friend
belonged to was surrounded in a village where they were posted, I knew
not upon what occasion, and all taken prisoners. But by great good
hap, I, being not in service, and so not in command, was strolled away
that day to see the country about; for it was my delight to see the
strong towns, and observe the beauty of their fortifications; and
while I diverted myself thus, I had the happy deliverance of not being
taken by the French for that time.

When I came back I found the enemy possessed of the town, but as I
was no soldier they did me no harm, and having my French passport in
my pocket, they gave me leave to go to Nieuport, where I took the
packet-boat and came over to England, landing at Deal instead of
Dover, the weather forcing us into the Downs; and thus my short
campaign ended, and this was my second essay at the trade of
soldiering.

When I came to London I was very well received by my friend, to
whom I had consigned my effects, and I found myself in very good
circumstances; for all my goods, which, as above, by several ships, I
had consigned to him, came safe to hand; and my overseers that I had
left behind had shipped at several times four hundred hogsheads of
tobacco to my correspondent in my absence, being the product of my
plantation, or part of it, for the time of my being abroad; so that I
had above £1000 in my factor's hands, two hundred hogsheads of tobacco
besides left in hand, not sold.

I had nothing to do now but entirely to conceal myself from all that
had any knowledge of me before. And this was the easiest thing in the
world to do; for I was grown out of everybody's knowledge, and most of
those I had known were grown out of mine. My captain, who went with
me, or, rather, who carried me away, I found, by inquiring at the
proper place, had been rambling about the world, came to London, fell
into his own trade, which he could not forbear, and growing an eminent
highwayman, had made his exit at the gallows, after a life of fourteen
years' most exquisite and successful rogueries, the particulars of
which would make, as I observed, an admirable history. My other
brother Jacque, who I called major, followed the like wicked trade,
but was a man of more gallantry and generosity; and having committed
innumerable depredations upon mankind, yet had always so much
dexterity as to bring himself off, till at length he was laid fast in
Newgate, and loaded with irons, and would certainly have gone the same
way as the captain, but he was so dexterous a rogue that no gaol, no
fetters, would hold him; and he, with two more, found means to knock
off their irons, worked their way through the wall of the prison, and
let themselves down on the outside in the night. So escaping, they
found means to get into France, where he followed the same trade, and
with so much success that he grew famous by the name of Anthony, and
had the honour, with three of his comrades, whom he had taught the
English way of robbing generously, as they called it, without
murdering or wounding, or ill-using those they robbed;--I say, he had
the honour to be broke upon the wheel at the Greve in Paris.

All these things I found means to be fully informed of, and to have a
long account of the particulars of their conduct from some of their
comrades who had the good fortune to escape, and who I got the
knowledge of without letting them so much as guess at who I was or
upon what account I inquired.

I was now at the height of my good fortune. Indeed I was in very good
circumstances, and being of a frugal temper from the beginning, I
saved things together as they came, and yet lived very well too.
Particularly I had the reputation of a very considerable merchant, and
one that came over vastly rich from Virginia; and as I frequently
bought supplies for my several families and plantations there as they
wrote to me for them, so I passed, I say, for a great merchant.

I lived single, indeed, and in lodgings, but I began to be very well
known, and though I had subscribed my name only "Jack" to my
particular correspondent, yet the French, among whom I lived near a
year, as I have said, not understanding what Jack meant, called me
Monsieur Jacques and Colonel Jacques, and so gradually Colonel Jacque.
So I was called in the certificate of exchanging me with the other
prisoner, so that I went so also into Flanders; upon which, and seeing
my certificate of exchange, as above, I was called Colonel Jacques in
England by my friend who I called correspondent. And thus I passed for
a foreigner and a Frenchman, and I was infinitely fond of having
everybody take me for a Frenchman; and as I spoke French very well,
having learned it by continuing so long among them, so I went
constantly to the French church in London, and spoke French upon all
occasions as much as I could; and, to complete the appearance of it, I
got me a French servant to do my business--I mean as to my
merchandise, which only consisted in receiving and disposing of
tobacco, of which I had about five hundred to six hundred hogsheads a
year from my own plantations, and in supplying my people with
necessaries as they wanted them.

In this private condition I continued about two years more, when the
devil, owing me a spleen ever since I refused being a thief, paid me
home, with my interest, by laying a snare in my way which had almost
ruined me.

There dwelt a lady in the house opposite to the house I lodged in, who
made an extraordinary figure indeed. She went very well dressed, and
was a most beautiful person. She was well-bred, sung admirably fine,
and sometimes I could hear her very distinctly, the houses being over
against one another, in a narrow court, not much unlike Three King
Court in Lombard Street.

This lady put herself so often in my way that I could not in good
manners forbear taking notice of her, and giving her the ceremony of
my hat when I saw her at her window, or at the door, or when I passed
her in the court; so that we became almost acquainted at a distance.
Sometimes she also visited at the house I lodged at, and it was
generally contrived that I should be introduced when she came, and
thus by degrees we became more intimately acquainted, and often
conversed together in the family, but always in public, at least for a
great while.

I was a mere boy in the affair of love, and knew the least of what
belonged to a woman of any man in Europe of my age. The thoughts of a
wife, much less of a mistress, had never so much as taken the least
hold of my head, and I had been till now as perfectly unacquainted
with the sex, and as unconcerned about them, as I was when I was ten
years old, and lay in a heap of ashes at the glass-house.

But I know not by what witchcraft in the conversation of this woman,
and her singling me out upon several occasions, I began to be
ensnared, I knew not how, or to what end; and was on a sudden so
embarrassed in my thoughts about her that, like a charm, she had me
always in her circle. If she had not been one of the subtlest women on
earth, she could never have brought me to have given myself the least
trouble about her, but I was drawn in by the magic of a genius capable
to deceive a more wary capacity than mine, and it was impossible to
resist her.

She attacked me without ceasing, with the fineness of her conduct, and
with arts which were impossible to be ineffectual. She was ever, as it
were, in my view, often in my company, and yet kept herself so on the
reserve, so surrounded continually with obstructions, that for several
months after she could perceive I sought an opportunity to speak to
her, she rendered it impossible; nor could I ever break in upon her,
she kept her guard so well.

This rigid behaviour was the greatest mystery that could be,
considering, at the same time, that she never declined my seeing her
or conversing with me in public. But she held it on; she took care
never to sit next me, that I might slip no paper into her hand or
speak softly to her; she kept somebody or other always between, that I
could never come up to her; and thus, as if she was resolved really to
have nothing to do with me, she held me at the bay several months.

All this while nothing was more certain than that she intended
to have me, if she could catch; and it was indeed a kind of a catch,
for she managed all by art, and drew me in with the most resolute
backwardness, that it was almost impossible not to be deceived by it.
On the other hand, she did not appear to be a woman despicable,
neither was she poor, or in a condition that should require so much
art to draw any man in; but the cheat was really on my side; for she
was unhappily told that I was vastly rich, a great merchant, and that
she would live like a queen; which I was not at all instrumental in
putting upon her, neither did I know that she went upon that motive.

She was too cunning to let me perceive how easy she was to be had; on
the contrary, she run all the hazards of bringing me to neglect her
entirely that one would think any woman in the world could do. And I
have wondered often since how that it was possible it should fail of
making me perfectly averse to her; for as I had a perfect indifferency
for the whole sex, and never till then entertained any notion of them,
they were no more to me than a picture hanging up against a wall.

As we conversed freely together in public, so she took a great many
occasions to rally the men, and the weakness they were guilty of in
letting the women insult them as they did. She thought if the men had
not been fools, marriage had been only treaties of peace between two
neighbours, or alliances offensive or defensive, which must
necessarily have been carried on sometimes by interviews and personal
treaties, but oftener by ambassadors, agents, and emissaries on both
sides; but that the women had outwitted us, and brought us upon our
knees, and made us whine after them, and lower ourselves, so as we
could never pretend to gain our equality again.

I told her I thought it was a decency to the ladies to give them the
advantage of denying a little, that they might be courted, and that I
should not like a woman the worse for denying me. "I expect it,
madam," says I, "when I wait on you to-morrow;" intimating that I
intended it. "You shan't be deceived, sir," says she, "for I'll deny
now, before you ask me the question."

I was dashed so effectually with so malicious, so devilish an answer
that I returned with a little sullenness, "I shan't trespass upon you
yet, madam; and I shall be very careful not to offend you when I do."

"It is the greatest token of your respect, sir," says she, "that you
are able to bestow upon me, and the most agreeable too, except one,
which I will not be out of hopes of obtaining of you in a little
time."

"What is in my power to oblige you in, madam," said I, "you may
command me in at any time, especially the way we are talking of." This
I spoke still with a resentment very sincere.

"It is only, sir, that you would promise to hate me with as much
sincerity as I will endeavour to make you a suitable return."

"I granted that request, madam, seven years before you asked it," said
I, "for I heartily hated the whole sex, and scarce know how I came to
abate that good disposition in compliment to your conversation; but I
assure you that abatement is so little that it does no injury to your
proposal."

"There's some mystery in that indeed, sir," said she, "for I desire to
assist your aversion to women in a more particular manner, and hoped
it should never abate under my management." We said a thousand
ill-natured things after this, but she outdid me, for she had such a
stock of bitterness upon her tongue as no woman ever went beyond her,
and yet all this while she was the pleasantest and most obliging
creature in every part of our conversation that could possibly be, and
meant not one word of what she said; no, not a word. But I must
confess it no way answered her end, for it really cooled all my
thoughts of her, and I, that had lived in so perfect an indifferency
to the sex all my days, was easily returned to that condition again,
and began to grow very cold and negligent in my usual respects to her
upon all occasions.

She soon found she had gone too far with me, and, in short, that she
was extremely out in her politics; that she had to do with one that
was not listed yet among the whining sort of lovers, and knew not what
it was to adore a mistress in order to abuse her; and that it was not
with me as it was with the usual sort of men in love, that are warmed
by the cold, and rise in their passions as the ladies fall in their
returns. On the contrary, she found that it was quite altered. I was
civil to her, as before, but not so forward. When I saw her at her
chamber-window, I did not throw mine open, as I usually had done, to
talk with her. When she sung in the parlour, where I could easily hear
it, I did not listen. When she visited at the house where I lodged, I
did not always come down; or if I did, I had business which obliged me
to go abroad; and yet all this while, when I did come into her
company, I was as intimate as ever.

I could easily see that this madded her to the heart, and that she
was perplexed to the last degree, for she found that she had all her
game to play over again; that so absolute a reservedness, even to
rudeness and ill manners, was a little too much; but she was a mere
posture-mistress in love, and could put herself into what shapes she
pleased.

She was too wise to show a fondness or forwardness that looked like
kindness. She knew that was the meanest and last step a woman can
take, and lays her under the foot of the man she pretends to. Fondness
is not the last favour indeed, but it is the last favour but one that
a woman can grant, and lays her almost as low; I mean, it lays her at
the mercy of the man she shows it to; but she was not come to that
neither. This chameleon put on another colour, turned, on a sudden,
the gravest, soberest, majestic madam, so that any one would have
thought she was advanced in age in one week from two-and-twenty to
fifty, and this she carried on with so much government of herself that
it did not in the least look like art; but if it was a representation
of nature only, it was so like nature itself that nobody living can be
able to distinguish. She sung very often in her parlour, as well by
herself as with two young ladies who came often to see her. I could
see by their books, and her guitar in her hand, that she was singing;
but she never opened the window, as she was wont to do. Upon my
coming to my window, she kept her own always shut; or if it was open,
she would be sitting at work, and not look up, it may be, once in
half-an-hour.

If she saw me by accident all this while, she would smile, and speak
as cheerfully as ever; but it was but a word or two, and so make her
honours and be gone; so that, in a word, we conversed just as we did
after I had been there a week.

She tired me quite out at this work; for though I began the
strangeness, indeed, yet I did not design the carrying it on so far.
But she held it to the last, just in the same manner as she began it.
She came to the house where I lodged as usual, and we were often
together, supped together, played at cards together, danced together;
for in France I accomplished myself with everything that was needful
to make me what I believed myself to be even from a boy--I mean a
gentleman. I say, we conversed together, as above, but she was so
perfectly another thing to what she used to be in every part of her
conversation that it presently occurred to me that her former
behaviour was a kind of a rant or fit; that either it was the effect
of some extraordinary levity that had come upon her, or that it was
done to mimic the coquets of the town, believing it might take with
me, who she thought was a Frenchman, and that it was what I loved. But
her new gravity was her real natural temper, and indeed it became her
so much better, or, as I should say, she acted it so well, that it
really brought me back to have, not as much only, but more mind to her
than ever I had before.

However, it was a great while before I discovered myself, and I stayed
indeed to find out, if possible, whether this change was real or
counterfeit; for I could not easily believe it was possible the gay
humour she used to appear in could be a counterfeit. It was not,
therefore, till a year and almost a quarter that I came to any
resolution in my thoughts about her, when, on a mere accident, we came
to a little conversation together.

She came to visit at our house as usual, and it happened all the
ladies were gone abroad; but, as it fell out, I was in the passage or
entry of the house, going towards the stairs, when she knocked at the
door; so, stepping back, I opened the door, and she, without any
ceremony, came in, and ran forward into the parlour, supposing the
women had been there. I went in after her, as I could do no less,
because she did not know that the family was abroad.

Upon my coming in she asked for the ladies. I told her I hoped she
came to visit me now, for that the ladies were all gone abroad. "Are
they?" said she, as if surprised--though I understood afterwards she
knew it before, as also that I was at home--and then rises up to be
gone. "No, madam," said I, "pray do not go; when ladies come to visit
me, I do not use to tire them of my company so soon." "That's as
ill-natured," says she, "as you could possibly talk. Pray don't
pretend I came to visit you. I am satisfied who I came to visit, and
satisfied that you know it." "Yes, madam," said I; "but if I happen to
be all of the family that's left at home, then you came to visit me."


[Illustration: COLONEL JACQUE AND THE LADY]

"I never receive visits from those that I hate," says she.

"You have me there, indeed," said I; "but you never gave me leave to
tell you why I hated you. I hated you because you would never give me
an opportunity to tell you I loved you. Sure, you took me for some
frightful creature, that you would never come near enough so much as
to let me whisper to you that I love you."

"I never care to hear anything so disagreeable," says she, "though it
be spoken ever so softly."

We rallied thus for an hour. In short, she showed the abundance of her
wit, and I an abundant deficiency of mine; for though three or four
times she provoked me to the last degree, so that once I was going to
tell her I had enough of her company, and, if she pleased I would wait
upon her to the door, yet she had always so much witchcraft on her
tongue that she brought herself off again; till, to make the story
short, we came at last to talk seriously on both sides about
matrimony, and she heard me freely propose it, and answered me
directly upon many occasions. For example, she told me I would carry
her away to France or to Virginia, and that she could not think of
leaving England, her native country. I told her I hoped she did not
take me for a kidnapper. (By the way, I did not tell her how I had
been kidnapped myself.) She said no; but the consequence of my
affairs, which were, it seems, mostly abroad, might oblige me to go,
and she could never think of marrying any man that she could not be
content to go all over the world with, if he had occasion to go
himself. This was handsomely expressed indeed. I made her easy on that
point, and thus we began the grand parley; which indeed she drew me
into with the utmost art and subtilty, such as was peculiar to
herself, but was infinitely her advantage in our treating of marriage;
for she made me effectually court her, though at the same time in her
design she courted me with the utmost skill, and such skill it was
that her design was perfectly impenetrable to the last moment.

In short, we came nearer and nearer every time we met; and after one
casual visit more, in which I had the mighty favour of talking with
her alone, I then waited on her every day at her own house, or
lodgings rather, and so we set about the work to a purpose, and in
about a month we gave the world the slip, and were privately married,
to avoid ceremony and the public inconveniency of a wedding.

We soon found a house proper for our dwelling, and so went to
housekeeping. We had not been long together but I found that gay
temper of my wife returned, and she threw off the mask of her gravity
and good conduct, that I had so long fancied was her mere natural
disposition; and now, having no more occasion for disguises, she
resolved to seem nothing but what really she was, a wild, untamed
colt, perfectly loose, and careless to conceal any part, no, not the
worst of her conduct.

She carried on this air of levity to such an excess that I could not
but be dissatisfied at the expense of it; for she kept company that I
did not like, lived beyond what I could support, and sometimes lost at
play more than I cared to pay. Upon which, one day, I took occasion to
mention it, but lightly; and said to her, by way of raillery, that we
lived merrily, for as long as it would last. She turned short upon me,
"What do you mean?" says she. "Why, you don't pretend to be uneasy, do
ye?" "No, no, madam, not I, by no means; it is no business of mine,
you know," said I, "to inquire what my wife spends, or whether she
spends more than I can afford, or less. I only desire the favour to
know, as near as you can guess, how long you will please to take to
despatch me, for I would not be too long a-dying."

"I do not know what you talk of," says she. "You may die as leisurely,
or as hastily, as you please, when your time comes; I a'nt a-going to
kill you, as I know of."

"But you are a-going to starve me, madam," said I, "and hunger is as
leisurely a death as breaking upon the wheel."

"I starve you! Why, are not you a great Virginia merchant, and did not
I bring you £1500? What would you have? Sure, you can maintain a wife
out of that, can't you?"

"Yes, madam," says I, "I could maintain a wife, but not a gamester,
though you had brought me £1500 a year; no estate is big enough for a
box and dice."

She took fire at that, and flew out in a passion, and after a great
many bitter words, told me, in short, that she saw no occasion to
alter her conduct; and as for my not maintaining her, when I could not
maintain her longer she would find some way or other to maintain
herself.

Some time after the first rattle of this kind, she vouchsafed to let
me know that she was pleased to be with child. I was at first glad of
it, in hopes it would help to abate her madness; but it was all one,
and her being with child only added to the rest, for she made such
preparations for her lying-in, and the other appendixes of a child's
being born, that, in short, I found she would be downright distracted.
And I took the liberty to tell her one day that she would soon bring
herself and me to destruction, and entreated her to consider that such
figures as those were quite above us, and out of our circle; and, in
short, that I neither could nor would allow such expenses; that, at
this rate, two or three children would effectually ruin me, and that I
desired her to consider what she was doing.

She told me, with an air of disdain, that it was none of her business
to consider anything of that matter; that if I could not allow it, she
would allow it herself, and I might do my worst.

I begged her to consider things for all that, and not drive me to
extremities; that I married her to love and cherish her, and use her
as a good wife ought to be used, but not to be ruined and undone by
her. In a word, nothing could mollify her, nor any argument persuade
her to moderation, but withal she took it so heinously that I should
pretend to restrain her, that she told me in so many words she would
drop her burthen with me, and then, if I did not like it, she would
take care of herself; she would not live with me an hour, for she
would not be restrained, not she; and talked a long while at that
rate.

I told her, as to her child, which she called her burthen, it should
be no burthen to me; as to the rest, she might do as she pleased; it
might, however, do me this favour, that I should have no more lyings
in at the rate of £136 at a time, as I found she intended it should be
now. She told me she could not tell that; if she had no more by me,
she hoped she should by somebody else. "Say you so, madam?" said I.
"Then they that get them shall keep them." She did not know that
neither, she said, and so turned it off jeering, and, as it were,
laughing at me.

This last discourse nettled me, I must confess, and the more because I
had a great deal of it and very often, till, in short, we began at
length to enter into a friendly treaty about parting.

Nothing could be more criminal than the several discourses we had upon
this subject. She demanded a separate maintenance, and, in particular,
at the rate of £300 a year, and I demanded security of her that she
should not run me in debt. She demanded the keeping of the child, with
an allowance of £100 a year for that, and I demanded that I should be
secured from being charged for keeping any she might have by somebody
else, as she had threatened me.

In the interval, and during these contests, she dropped her burthen
(as she called it), and brought me a son, a very fine child.

She was content during her lying-in to abate a little, though it was
but a very little indeed, of the great expense she had intended, and,
with some difficulty and persuasion, was content with a suit of
child-bed linen of £15 instead of one she had intended of threescore;
and this she magnified as a particular testimony of her condescension
and a yielding to my avaricious temper, as she called it. But after
she was up again, it was the same thing, and she went on with her
humour to that degree that in a little time she began to carry it on
to other excesses, and to have a sort of fellows come to visit her,
which I did not like, and once, in particular, stayed abroad all
night. The next day, when she came home, she began to cry out first;
told me where (as she said) she lay, and that the occasion was a
christening, where the company had a feast and stayed too late; that,
if I was dissatisfied, I might inform myself there of all the
particulars, where she lay, and the like. I told her coldly, "Madam,
you do well to suggest my being dissatisfied, for you may be sure I
am, and you could expect no other; that as to going to your haunts to
inform myself, that is not my business: it is your business to bring
testimonies of your behaviour, and to prove where you lay, and in what
company. It is enough to me that you lay out of your own house,
without your husband's knowledge or consent, and before you and I
converse again I must have some satisfaction of the particulars."

She answered, with all her heart; she was as in different as I; and
since I took so ill her lying at a friend's house on an extraordinary
occasion, she gave me to understand that it was what she would have me
expect, and what she would have the liberty to do when she thought
fit.

"Well, madam," said I, "if I must expect what I cannot allow, you must
expect I shall shut my doors by day against those that keep out of
them at night."

She would try me, she said, very speedily; and if I shut the doors
against her, she would find a way to make me open them.

"Well, madam," says I, "you threaten me hard, but I would advise you
to consider before you take such measures, for I shall be as good as
my word." However, it was not long that we could live together upon
these terms; for I found very quickly what company she kept, and that
she took a course which I ought not to bear. So I began the separation
first, and refused her my bed. We had indeed refrained all converse as
husband and wife for about two months before, for I told her very
plainly I would father no brats that were not of my own getting; and
matters coming thus gradually to an extremity, too great to continue
as it was, she went off one afternoon, and left me a line in writing,
signifying that affairs had come to such a pass between us that she
did not think fit to give me the opportunity of shutting her out of
doors, and that therefore she had retired herself to such a place,
naming a relation of her own, as scandalous as herself; and that she
hoped I would not give her the trouble to sue for her support in the
ordinary course of law, but that, as her occasions required, she
should draw bills upon me, which she expected I would not refuse.

I was extremely satisfied with this proceeding, and took care to let
her hear of it, though I gave no answer at all to her letter; and as I
had taken care before that whenever she played such a prank as this,
she should not be able to carry much with her, so, after she was gone,
I immediately broke up housekeeping, sold my furniture by public
outcry, and in it everything in particular that was her own, and set a
bill upon my door, giving her to understand by it that she had passed
the Rubicon, that as she had taken such a step of her own accord, so
there was no room left her ever to think of coming back again.

This was what any one may believe I should not have done if I had seen
any room for a reformation; but she had given me such testimonies of a
mind alienated from her husband, in particular espousing her own
unsufferable levity, that there was indeed no possibility of our
coming afterwards to any terms again.

However, I kept a couple of trusty agents so near her that I failed
not to have a full account of her conduct, though I never let her know
anything of me but that I was gone over to France. As to her bills
which she said she would draw upon me, she was as good as her word in
drawing one of £30, which I refused to accept, and never gave her
leave to trouble me with another.

It is true, and I must acknowledge it, that all this was a very
melancholy scene of life to me, and but that she took care by carrying
herself to the last degree provoking, and continually to insult me, I
could never have gone on to the parting with so much resolution; for I
really loved her very sincerely, and could have been anything but a
beggar and a cuckold with her, but those were intolerable to me,
especially as they were put upon me with so much insult and rudeness.

But my wife carried it at last to a point that made all things light
and easy to me, for after above a year's separation, and keeping such
company as she thought fit, she was pleased to be with child again, in
which she had, however, so much honesty as not to pretend that she had
had anything to do with me. What a wretched life she led after this,
and how she brought herself to the utmost extremity of misery and
distress, I may speak of hereafter.

I had found, soon after our parting, that I had a great deal of reason
to put myself into a posture at first not to be imposed upon by her;
for I found very quickly that she had run herself into debt in several
places very considerably, and that it was upon a supposition that I
was liable to those debts. But I was gone, and it was absolutely
necessary I should do so; upon which she found herself obliged, out of
her wicked gains, however, whatever she made of them, to discharge
most of those debts herself.

As soon as she was delivered of her child, in which my intelligence
was so good that I had gotten sufficient proof of it, I sued her in
the ecclesiastical court, in order to obtain a divorce; and as she
found it impossible to avoid it, so she declined the defence, and I
gained a legal decree, or what they call it, of divorce, in the usual
time of such process; and now I thought myself a free man once again,
and began to be sick of wedlock with all my heart.

I lived retired, because I knew she had contracted debts which I
should be obliged to pay, and I was resolved to be gone out of her
reach with what speed I could. But it was necessary that I should stay
till the Virginia fleet came in, because I looked for at least three
hundred hogsheads of tobacco from thence, which I knew would heal all
my breaches; for indeed the extravagance of three years with this lady
had sunk me most effectually, even far beyond her own fortune, which
was considerable, though not quite £1500, as she had called it.

But all the mischiefs I met with on account of this match were not
over yet; for when I had been parted with her about three months, and
had refused to accept her bill of £30, which I mentioned above, though
I was removed from my first lodgings too, and thought I had
effectually secured myself from being found out, yet there came a
gentleman well dressed to my lodgings one day, and was let in before I
knew of it, or else I should scarce have admitted him.

He was led into a parlour, and I came down to him in my gown and
slippers. When I came into the room he called me as familiarly
by my name as if he had known me twenty years, and pulling out a
pocket-book, he shows me a bill upon me, drawn by my wife, which was
the same bill for £30 that I had refused before.

"Sir," says I, "this bill has been presented before, and I gave my
answer to it then."

"Answer, sir!" says he, with a kind of jeering, taunting air. "I do
not understand what you mean by an answer; it is not a question, sir;
it is a bill to be paid."

"Well, sir," says I, "it is a bill; I know that, and I gave my answer
to it before."

"Sir, sir," says he very saucily, "your answer! There is no answer to
a bill; it must be paid. Bills are to be paid, not to be answered.
They say you are a merchant, sir; merchants always pay their bills."

I began to be angry too a little, but I did not like my man, for I
found he began to be quarrelsome. However, I said, "Sir, I perceive
you are not much used to presenting bills. Sir, a bill is always first
presented, and presenting is a question; it is asking if I will accept
or pay the bill, and then whether I say yes or no, it is an answer one
way or other. After 'tis accepted, it indeed requires no more answer
but payment when 'tis due. If you please to inform yourself, this is
the usage which all merchants or tradesmen of any kind who have bills
drawn upon them act by."

"Well, sir," says he, "and what then? What is this to the paying me
the £30?"

"Why, sir," says I, "it is this to it, that I told the person that
brought it I should not pay it."

"Not pay it!" says he. "But you shall pay it; ay, ay, you will pay
it."

"She that draws it has no reason to draw any bills upon me, I am
sure," said I; "and I shall pay no bills she draws, I assure you."

Upon this he turns short upon me: "Sir, she that draws this bill is a
person of too much honour to draw any bill without reason, and 'tis an
affront to say so of her, and I shall expect satisfaction of you for
that by itself. But first the bill, sir--the bill; you must pay the
bill, sir."

I returned as short: "Sir, I affront nobody. I know the person as well
as you, I hope; and what I have said of her is no affront. She can
have no reason to draw bills upon me, for I owe her nothing."

I omit intermingling the oaths he laced his speech with, as too foul
for my paper. But he told me he would make me know she had friends to
stand by her, that I had abused her, and he would let me know it, and
do her justice. But first I must pay his bill.

I answered, in short, I would not pay the bill, nor any bills she
should draw.

With that he steps to the door and shuts it, and swore by G--d he
would make me pay the bill before we parted, and laid his hand upon
his sword, but did not draw it out.

I confess I was frighted to the last degree, for I had no sword; and
if I had, I must own that, though I had learned a great many good
things in France to make me look like a gentleman, I had forgot the
main article of learning how to use a sword, a thing so universally
practised there; and, to say more, I had been perfectly unacquainted
with quarrels of this nature; so that I was perfectly surprised when
he shut the door, and knew not what to say or do.

However, as it happened, the people of the house, hearing us pretty
loud, came near the door, and made a noise in the entry to let me know
they were at hand; and one of the servants, going to open the door,
and finding it locked, called out to me, "Sir, for God's sake open the
door! What is the matter? Shall we fetch a constable?" I made no
answer, but it gave me courage; so I sat down composed in one of the
chairs, and said to him, "Sir, this is not the way to make me pay the
bill; you had much better be easy, and take your satisfaction another
way."

He understood me of fighting, which, upon my word, was not in my
thoughts; but I meant that he had better take his course at law.

"With all my heart," says he; "they say you are a gentleman, and they
call you colonel. Now, if you are a gentleman, I accept your
challenge, sir; and if you will walk out with me, I will take it for
full payment of the bill, and will decide it as gentlemen ought to
do."

"I challenge you, sir!" said I. "Not I; I made no challenge," I said.
"This is not the way to make me pay a bill that I have not accepted;
that is, that you had better seek your satisfaction at law."

"Law!" says he; "law! Gentlemen's law is my law. In short, sir, you
shall pay me or fight me." And then, as if he had mistaken, he turns
short upon me, "Nay," says he, "you shall both fight me and pay me,
for I will maintain her honour;" and in saying this he bestowed about
six or seven "damme's" and oaths, by way of parenthesis.

This interval delivered me effectually, for just at the words "fight
me, for I will maintain her honour," the maid had brought in a
constable, with three or four neighbours to assist him.

He heard them come in, and began to be a little in a rage, and asked
me if I intended to mob him instead of paying; and laying his hand on
his sword, told me, if any man offered to break in upon him, he would
run me through the first moment, that he might have the fewer to deal
with afterwards.

I told him he knew I had called for no help (believing he could not be
in earnest in what he had said), and that, if anybody attempted to
come in upon us, it was to prevent the mischief he threatened, and
which he might see I had no weapons to resist.

Upon this the constable called, and charged us both in the king's name
to open the door. I was sitting in a chair, and offered to rise. He
made a motion as if he would draw, upon which I sat down again, and
the door not being opened, the constable set his foot against it and
came in.

"Well, sir," says my gentleman, "and what now? What's your business
here?" "Nay, sir," says the constable, "you see my business. I am a
peace-officer; all I have to do is to keep the peace, and I find the
people of the house frightened for fear of mischief between you, and
they have fetched me to prevent it." "What mischief have they supposed
you should find?" says he. "I suppose," says the constable, "they were
afraid you should fight." "That's because they did not know this
fellow here. He never fights. They call him colonel," says he. "I
suppose he might be born a colonel, for I dare say he was born a
coward; he never fights; he dares not see a man. If he would have
fought, he would have walked out with me, but he scorns to be brave;
they would never have talked to you of fighting if they had known him.
I tell you, Mr. Constable, he is a coward, and a coward is a rascal;"
and with that he came to me, and stroked his finger down my nose
pretty hard, and laughed and mocked most horribly, as if I was a
coward. Now, for aught I knew, it might be true, but I was now what
they call a coward made desperate, which is one of the worst of men in
the world to encounter with; for, being in a fury, I threw my head in
his face, and closing with him, threw him fairly on his back by mere
strength; and had not the constable stepped in and taken me off, I had
certainly stamped him to death with my feet, for my blood was now all
in a flame, and the people of the house were frighted now as much the
other way, lest I should kill him, though I had no weapon at all in my
hand.

The constable too reproved me in his turn; but I said to him, "Mr.
Constable, do you not think I am sufficiently provoked? Can any man
bear such things as these? I desire to know who this man is and who
sent him hither."

"I am," says he, "a gentleman, and come with a bill to him for money,
and he refuses to pay it." "Well," says the constable very prudently,
"that is none of my business; I am no justice of the peace to hear the
cause. Be that among yourselves, but keep your hands off one another,
and that is as much as I desire; and therefore, sir," says the
constable to him, "if I may advise you, seeing he will not pay the
bill, and that must be decided between you as the law directs, I would
have you leave it for the present and go quietly away."

He made many impertinent harangues about the bill, and insisted that
it was drawn by my own wife. I said angrily, "Then it was drawn by a
whore." He bullied me upon that, told me I durst not tell him so
anywhere else; so I answered, "I would very soon publish her for a
whore to all the world, and cry her down;" and thus we scolded for
near half-an-hour, for I took courage when the constable was there,
for I knew that he would keep us from fighting, which indeed I had no
mind to, and so at length I got rid of him.

I was heartily vexed at this rencounter, and the more because I had
been found out in my lodging, which I thought I had effectually
concealed. However, I resolved to remove the next day, and in the
meantime I kept within doors all that day till the evening, and then I
went out in order not to return thither any more.

Being come out into Gracechurch Street, I observed a man follow me,
with one of his legs tied up in a string, and hopping along with the
other, and two crutches; he begged for a farthing, but I inclining not
to give him anything, the fellow followed me still, till I came to a
court, when I answered hastily to him, "I have nothing for you! Pray
do not be so troublesome!" with which words he knocked me down with
one of his crutches.

Being stunned with the blow, I knew nothing what was done to me
afterwards; but coming to myself again, I found I was wounded very
frightfully in several places, and that among the rest my nose was
slit upwards, one of my ears cut almost off, and a great cut with a
sword on the side of the forehead; also a stab into the body, though
not dangerous.

Who had been near me, or struck me, besides the cripple that struck me
with his crutch, I knew not, nor do I know to this hour; but I was
terribly wounded, and lay bleeding on the ground some time, till,
coming to myself, I got strength to cry out for help, and people
coming about me, I got some hands to carry me to my lodging, where I
lay by it more than two months before I was well enough to go out of
doors; and when I did go out, I had reason to believe that I was
waited for by some rogues, who watched an opportunity to repeat the
injury I had met with before.

This made me very uneasy, and I resolved to get myself out of danger
if possible, and to go over to France, or home, as I called it, to
Virginia, so to be out of the way of villains and assassinations; for
every time I stirred out here I thought I went in danger of my life;
and therefore, as before, I went out at night, thinking to be
concealed, so now I never went out but in open day, that I might be
safe, and never without one or two servants to be my lifeguard.

But I must do my wife a piece of justice here too, and that was, that,
hearing what had befallen me, she wrote me a letter, in which she
treated me more decently than she had been wont to do. She said she
was very sorry to hear how I had been used, and the rather because she
understood it was on presenting her bill to me. She said she hoped I
could not, in my worst dispositions, think so hardly of her as to
believe it was done by her knowledge or consent, much less by her
order or direction; that she abhorred such things, and protested, if
she had the least knowledge or so much as a guess at the villains
concerned, she would discover them to me. She let me know the person's
name to whom she gave the bill, and where he lived, and left it to me
to oblige him to discover the person who had brought it and used me so
ill, and wished I might find him and bring him to justice, and have
him punished with the utmost severity of the law.

I took this so kindly of my wife that I think in my conscience, had
she come after it herself to see how I did, I had certainly taken her
again; but she satisfied herself with the civility of another letter,
and desiring me to let her know as often as I could how I was; adding
that it would be infinitely to her satisfaction to hear I was
recovered of the hurt I had received, and that he was hanged at Tyburn
who had done it.

She used some expressions signifying, as I understood them, her
affliction at our parting and her continued respect for me; but did
not make any motion towards returning. Then she used some arguments to
move me to pay her bills, intimating that she had brought me a large
fortune, and now had nothing to subsist on, which was very severe.

I wrote her an answer to this letter, though I had not to the other,
letting her know how I had been used; that I was satisfied, upon her
letter, that she had no hand in it; that it was not in her nature to
treat me so, who had never injured her, used any violence with her, or
been the cause or desire of our parting; that, as to her bill, she
could not but know how much her expensive way of living had straitened
and reduced me, and would, if continued, have ruined me; that she had
in less than three years spent more than as much as she brought to me,
and would not abate her expensive way, though calmly entreated by me,
with protestations that I could not support so great an expense, but
chose rather to break up her family and go from me than to restrain
herself to reasonable limits; though I used no violence with her, but
entreaties and earnest persuasions, backed with good reason; letting
her know how my estate was, and convincing her that it must reduce us
to poverty at least; that, however, if she would recall her bill, I
would send her £30, which was the sum mentioned in her bill, and,
according to my ability, would not let her want, if she pleased to
live within due bounds; but then I let her know also that I had a very
bad account of her conduct, and that she kept company with a
scandalous fellow, who I named to her; that I was loth to believe such
things of her, but that, to put an entire end to the report and
restore her reputation, I let her know that still, after all I heard,
if she would resolve to live without restraints, within the reasonable
bounds of my capacity, and treat me with the same kindness, affection,
and tenderness as I always had treated her, and ever would, I was
willing to receive her again, and would forget all that was past; but
that, if she declined me now, it would be forever; for if she did not
accept my offer, I was resolved to stay here no longer, where I had
been so ill-treated on many occasions, but was preparing to go into my
own country, where I would spend my days in quiet, and in a retreat
from the world.

She did not give such an answer to this as I expected; for though she
thanked me for the £30, yet she insisted upon her justification in all
other points; and though she did not refuse to return to me, yet she
did not say she accepted it, and, in short, said little or nothing to
it, only a kind of claim to a reparation of her injured reputation,
and the like.

This gave me some surprise at first, for I thought, indeed, any woman
in her circumstances would have been very willing to have put an end
to all her miseries, and to the reproach which was upon her, by a
reconciliation, especially considering she subsisted at that time but
very meanly. But there was a particular reason which prevented her
return, and which she could not plead to in her letter, yet was a good
reason against accepting an offer which she would otherwise have been
glad of; and this was, that, as I have mentioned above, she had fallen
into bad company, and had prostituted her virtue to some of her
flatterers, and, in short, was with child; so that she durst not
venture to accept my offer.

However, as I observed above, she did not absolutely refuse it,
intending (as I understood afterward) to keep the treaty of it on foot
till she could drop her burthen, as she had called it before, and
having been delivered privately, have accepted my proposal afterward;
and, indeed, this was the most prudent step she could take, or, as we
may say, the only step she had left to take. But I was too many for
her here too. My intelligence about her was too good for her to
conceal such an affair from me, unless she had gone away before she
was visibly big, and unless she had gone farther off too than she did;
for I had an account to a tittle of the time when, and place where,
and the creature of which she was delivered; and then my offers of
taking her again were at an end, though she wrote me several very
penitent letters, acknowledging her crime and begging me to forgive
her. But my spirit was above all that now, nor could I ever bear the
thoughts of her after that, but pursued a divorce, and accordingly
obtained it, as I have mentioned already.

Things being at this pass, I resolved, as I have observed before, to
go over to France, after I had received my effects from Virginia; and
accordingly I came to Dunkirk in the year ----, and here I fell into
company with some Irish officers of the regiment of Dillon, who by
little and little entered me into the army, and by the help of
Lieutenant-General ----, an Irishman, and some money, I obtained a
company in his regiment, and so went into the army directly.

I was exceeding pleased with my new circumstances, and now I used to
say to myself I was come to what I was born to, and that I had never
till now lived the life of a gentleman.

Our regiment, after I had been some time in it, was commanded into
Italy, and one of the most considerable actions that I was in was the
famous attack upon Cremona, in the Milanese, where the Germans, being
privately and by treachery let into the town in the night through a
kind of common sewer, surprised the town and got possession of the
greatest part of it, surprising the mareschal, Duke de Villeroi, and
taking him prisoner as he came out of his quarters, and beating the
few French troops which were left in the citadel; but were in the
middle of their victory so boldly and resolutely attacked by two Irish
regiments who were quartered in the street leading to the river Po,
and who kept possession of the water-gate, or Po gate, of the town, by
which the German reinforcements should have come in, that, after a
most desperate fight, the Germans had their victory wrung out of their
hands, and not being able to break through us to let in their friends,
were obliged at length to quit the town again, to the eternal honour
of those Irish regiments, and indeed of their whole nation, and for
which we had a very handsome compliment from the king of France.

I now had the satisfaction of knowing, and that for the first time
too, that I was not that cowardly, low-spirited wretch that I was when
the fellow bullied me in my lodgings about the bill of £30. Had he
attacked me now, though in the very same condition, I should, naked
and unarmed as I was, have flown in the face of him and trampled him
under my feet. But men never know themselves till they are tried, and
courage is acquired by time and experience of things.

Philip de Comines tells us that, after the battle of Monteleri, the
Count de Charolois, who till then had an utter aversion to the war,
and abhorred it and everything that belonged to it, was so changed by
the glory he obtained in that action, and by the flattery of those
about him, that afterwards the army was his mistress and the fatigues
of the war his chief delight. It is too great an example for me to
bring in my own case, but so it was, that they flattered me so with my
bravery, as they called it, on the occasion of this action, that I
fancied myself brave, whether I was so or not, and the pride of it
made me bold and daring to the last degree on all occasions. But what
added to it was, that somebody gave a particular account to the Court
of my being instru mental to the saving the city, and the whole
Cremonese, by my extraordinary defence of the Po gate, and by my
managing that defence after the lieutenant-colonel who commanded the
party where I was posted was killed; upon which the king sent me a
public testimony of his accepting my service, and sent me a brevet to
be lieutenant-colonel, and the next courier brought me actually a
commission for lieutenant-colonel in the regiment of ----.

I was in several skirmishes and petty encounters before this, by which
I gained the reputation of a good officer; but I happened to be in
some particular posts too, by which I got somewhat that I liked much
better, and that was a good deal of money.

Our regiment was sent from France to Italy by sea. We embarked at
Toulon, and landed at Savona, in the territory of Genoa, and marched
from thence to the duchy of Milan. At the first town we were sent to
take possession of, which was Alexandria, the citizens rose upon our
men in a most furious manner, and drove the whole garrison, which
consisted of eight hundred men--that is, French and soldiers in the
French service--quite out of the town.

I was quartered in a burgher's house, just by one of the ports, with
eight of my men and a servant, where, calling a short council with my
men, we were resolved to maintain the house we were in, whatever it
cost, till we received orders to quit it from the commanding officer.
Upon this, when I saw our men could not stand their ground in the
street, being pressed hard by the citizens, I turned out of doors all
the family, and kept the house as a castle, which I was governor in;
and as the house joined to the city gate, I resolved to maintain it,
so as to be the last that should quit the place, my own retreat being
secured by being so near the port.

Having thus emptied the house of the inhabitants, we made no scruple
of filling our pockets with what ever we could find there. In a word,
we left nothing we could carry away, among which it came to my lot to
dip into the burgher's cabinet whose house it was where we were, and
there I took about the quantity of two hundred pistoles in money and
plate, and other things of value. There was great complaint made to
Prince Vaudemont, who was then governor of the Milanese, of this
violence. But as the repulse the citizens gave us was contrary to his
order, and to the general design of the prince, who was then wholly in
the interest of King Philip, the citizens could obtain nothing; and I
found that if we had plundered the whole city it would have been the
same thing; for the governor had orders to take our regiment in, and
it was an act of open rebellion to resist us as they did. However, we
had orders not to fire upon the burghers, unless constrained to it by
evident necessity, and we rather chose to quit the place as we did
than dispute it with a desperate body of fellows, who wanted no
advantage of us, except only that of having possession of two bastions
and one port of our retreat. First, they were treble our number; for
the burghers, being joined by seven companies of the regular troops,
made up above sixteen hundred men, besides rabble, which was many
more, whereas we were about eight hundred in all; they also had the
citadel and several pieces of cannon, so that we could have made
nothing of it if we had attacked them. But they submitted three or
four days after to other forces, the soldiers within turning upon them
and taking the citadel from them.

After this we lay still in quarters eight months. For the prince,
having secured the whole Milanese for King Philip, and no enemy
appearing for some time, had nothing to do but to receive the
auxiliary troops of France, and as they came, extend himself every way
as he could, in order to keep the imperialists (who were preparing to
fall into Italy with a great army) as much at a distance as possible,
which he did by taking possession of the city of Mantua, and of most
of the towns on that side, as far as the Lake De la Guarda and the
river Adige.

We lay in Mantua some time, but were afterwards drawn out by order of
the Count de Tesse (after wards Marshal of France), to form the French
army, till the arrival of the Duke de Vendôme, who was to command in
chief. Here we had a severe campaign, _anno_ 1701, having Prince
Eugene of Savoy and an army of forty thousand Germans, all old
soldiers, to deal with; and though the French army was more numerous
than the enemy by twenty-five thousand men, yet, being on the
defensive, and having so many posts to cover, not knowing exactly
where the Prince of Savoy, who commanded the imperial army, would
attack us, it obliged the French to keep their troops so divided and
so remote from one another that the Germans pushed on their design
with great success, as the histories of those times more fully relate.

I was at the action of Carpi, July 1701, where we were worsted by the
Germans; indeed, were forced to quit our encampment and give up to the
prince the whole river Adige, and where our regiment sustained some
loss. But the enemies got little by us, and Monsieur Catinat, who
commanded at that time, drew up in order of battle the next day in
sight of the German army, and gave them a defiance; but they would not
stir, though we offered them battle two days together; for, having
gained the passage over the Adige by our quitting Rivoli, which was
then useless to us, their business was done.

Finding they declined a decisive action, our generals pressed them in
their quarters, and made them fight for every inch of ground they
gained; and at length, in the September following, we attacked them in
their intrenched posts of Chiar. Here we broke into the very heart of
their camp, where we made a very terrible slaughter. But I know not by
what mistake among our generals, or defect in the execution of their
orders, the brigade of Normandy and our Irish Brigade, who had so
bravely entered the German intrenchments, were not supported as we
should have been, so that we were obliged to sustain the shock of the
whole German army, and at last to quit the advantage we had gained,
and that not without loss; but, being timely reinforced by a great
body of horse, the enemy were in their turn beaten off too, and driven
back into their very camp. The Germans boasted of having a great
victory here, and indeed, in repulsing us after we had gained their
camp, they had the advantage. But had Monsieur de Tesse succoured us
in time, as old Catinat said he ought to have done, with twelve
thousand foot which he had with him, that day's action had put an end
to the war, and Prince Eugene must have been glad to have gone back to
Germany in more haste than he came, if, perhaps, we had not cut him
short by the way.

But the fate of things went another way, and the Germans continued all
that campaign to push forward and advance one post after another, till
they beat us quite out of the Milanese.

The latter part of this campaign we made only a party war, the French,
according to their volatile temper, being every day abroad, either
foraging or surprising the enemy's foragers, plundering or
circumventing the plunders of the other side. But they very often came
short home, for the Germans had the better of them on several
occasions; and indeed so many lost their lives upon these petty
encounters that I think, including those who died of distempers gotten
by hard service and bad quarters, lying in the field even till the
middle of December among rivers and bogs, in a country so full of
canals and rivers as that part of Italy is known to be; I say, we lost
more men, and so did the enemy also, than would have been lost in a
general decisive battle.

The Duke of Savoy, to give him his due, pressed earnestly to put it to
a day and come to a battle with Prince Eugene; but the Duke de
Villeroi, Monsieur Catinat, and the Count de Tesse were all against
it; and the principal reason was, that they knew the weakness of the
troops, who had suffered so much on so many occasions that they were
in no condition to give battle to the Germans. So after, as I say,
about three months' harassing one another with parties, we went into
winter quarters.

Before we marched out of the field, our regiment, with a detachment of
dragoons of six hundred, and about two hundred and fifty horse, went
out with a design to intercept Prince Commercy, a general of note
under Prince Eugene of Savoy. The detachment was intended to be only
horse and dragoons; but because it was the imperialists' good luck to
beat many of our parties, and, as was given out, many more than we
beat of theirs, and because it was believed that the prince, who was
an officer of good note among them, would not go abroad but in very
good company, the Irish regiment of foot was ordered to be added,
that, if possible, they might meet with their match.

I was commanded, about two hours before, to pass about two hundred
foot and fifty dragoons at a small wood where our general had
intelligence that prince would post some men to secure his passage,
which accordingly I did. But Count Tesse, not thinking our party
strong enough, had marched himself, with a thousand horse and three
hundred grenadiers, to support us. And it was very well he did so; for
Prince Commercy, having intelligence of the first party, came forward
sooner than they expected, and fell upon them, and had entirely routed
them had not the Count, hearing the firing, advanced with the thousand
horse he had, with such expedition as to support his men in the very
heat of the action, by which means the Germans were defeated and
forced to retire. But the prince made a pretty good retreat, and after
the action came on to the wood where I was posted; but the surprise of
his defeat had prevented his sending a detachment to secure the pass
at the wood, as he intended.

The Count de Tesse, understanding that we were sent, as above, to the
wood, followed them close at the heels, to prevent our being cut off,
and, if it were possible that we should give them any check at the
wood, to fall in and have another brush with them. It was near night
before they came to the wood, by which means they could not discern
our number. But when they came up to the wood, fifty dragoons advanced
to discover the pass and see if all was clear. These we suffered to
pass a great way into the defile, or lane, that went through the wood,
and then clapping in between them and the entrance, cut off their
retreat so effectually that when they discovered us and fired, they
were instantly surrounded and cut in pieces, the officers who
commanded them and eight dragoons only being made prisoners.

This made the prince halt, not knowing what the case was or how strong
we were, and, to get better intelligence, sent two hundred horse to
surround or skirt the wood and beat up our quarter, and in the interim
the Count de Tesse appeared in his rear. We found the strait he was in
by the noise of our own troops at a distance; so we resolved to engage
the two hundred horse immediately. Accordingly our little troop of
horse drew up in the entrance of the lane and offered to skirmish, and
our foot, lying behind the hedge which went round the wood, stood
ready to act as occasion should offer. The horse, being attacked, gave
way, and retired into the lane; but the Germans were too old for us
there. They contented themselves to push us to the entrance, but would
not be drawn into a narrow pass without knowing whether the hedges
were lined or no.

But the prince, finding the French in his rear, and not being strong
enough to engage again, resolved to force his way through, and
commanded his dragoons to alight and enter the wood, to clear the
hedges on either side the lane, that he might pass with his cavalry.
This they did so vigorously, and were so much too strong for us, that
though we made good our ground a long time, yet our men were almost
half of them cut in pieces. However, we gave time to the French
cavalry to come up, and to fall on the prince's troops and cut them
off, and take a great many prisoners, and then we retreated in our
turn, opening a gap for our own horse to break in. Three hundred of
the dragoons were killed, and two hundred of them taken prisoners.

In the first heat of this action, a German officer of dragoons, well
followed, had knocked down three men that stood next me; and, offering
me quarter, I was obliged to accept it, and gave him my sword; for our
men were upon the point of quitting their post and shifting every one
as they could. But the scale was turned, for our cavalry breaking in,
as above, the dragoons went to wreck, and the officer who had me
prisoner, turning to me, said, "We are all lost." I asked him if I
could serve him. "Stand still a little," says he; for his men fought
most desperately indeed. But about two hundred French horse appearing
in his rear too, he said to me in French, "I will be your prisoner,"
and returning me my sword, gave me also his own. A dragoon that stood
near him was just going to do the like, when he was shot dead, and the
horse coming up, the field was cleared in an instant. But Prince
Commercy went off with the rest of his party, and was pursued no
farther.

There were sixteen or seventeen of our men released, as I was, from
being taken; but they had not the luck I had, to take the officer that
had them in keeping. He had been so generous to me as not to ask what
money I had about me, though I had not much if he had. But I lost by
his civility, for then I could not have the assurance to ask him for
his money, though I understood he had near a hundred pistoles about
him. But he very handsomely at night, when we came to our tents, made
me a present of twenty pistoles, and in return I obtained leave for
him to go to Prince Eugene's camp upon his parole, which he did, and
so got himself exchanged.

It was after this campaign that I was quartered at Cremona, when the
action happened there of which I have spoken already, and where our
Irish regiment did such service that they saved the town from being
really surprised, and indeed beat the Germans out again, after they
had been masters of three-quarters of the town six hours, and by which
they gained a very great reputation.

But I hasten on to my own history, for I am not writing a journal of
the wars, in which I had no long share.

The summer after this our two Irish regiments were drawn out into the
field, and had many a sore brush with the Germans; for Prince Eugene,
a vigilant general, gave us little rest, and gained many advantages by
his continual moving up and down, harassing his own men and ours too;
and whoever will do the French justice, and knew how they had behaved,
must acknowledge they never declined the Germans, but fought them upon
all occasions with the utmost resolution and courage; and though it
cost the blood of an infinite number of fine gentlemen, as well as
private soldiers, yet the Duke de Vendôme, who now commanded, though
King Philip was himself in the army this campaign, made the Prince of
Savoy a full return in his own kind, and drove him from post to post,
till he was just at the point of quitting the whole country of Italy.
All that gallant army Prince Eugene brought with him into Italy, which
was the best without doubt, for the goodness of the troops, that ever
were there, laid their bones in that country, and many thousands more
after them, till, the affairs of France declining in other places,
they were forced in their turn to give way to their fate, as may be
seen in the histories of those times, as above. But it is none of my
business.

The part that I bore in these affairs was but short and sharp. We took
the field about the beginning of July 1702, and the Duke de Vendôme
ordered the whole army to draw the sooner together, in order to
relieve the city of Mantua, which was blocked up by the imperialists.

Prince Eugene was a politic, and indeed a fortunate, prince, and had
the year before pushed our army upon many occasions. But his good
fortune began to fail him a little this year, for our army was not
only more numerous than his, but the duke was in the field before him;
and as the prince had held Mantua closely blocked up all the winter,
the duke resolved to relieve the town, cost what it would. As I said,
the duke was first in the field; the prince was in no condition to
prevent his raising the blockade by force; so he drew off his troops,
and leaving several strong bodies of troops to protect Bersello, which
the Duke de Vendôme threatened, and Borgo Fort, where his magazine
lay, he drew all the rest of his forces together, to make head against
us. By this time the king of Spain was come into the army, and the
Duke de Vendôme lay with about thirty-five thousand men near Luzara,
which he had resolved to attack, to bring Prince Eugene to a battle.
The Prince of Vaudemont lay intrenched with twenty thousand more at
Rivalto, behind Mantua, to cover the frontiers of Milan, and there was
near twelve thousand in Mantua itself; and Monsieur Pracontal lay with
ten thousand men just under the cannon of one of the forts which guard
the causeway which leads into the city of Mantua; so that, had all
these joined, as they would have done in a few days more, the prince
must have been put to his shifts, and would have had enough to do to
have maintained himself in Italy; for he was master of no one place in
the country that could have held out a formal siege of fifteen days'
open trenches, and he knew all this very well; and therefore it seems,
while the Duke of Vendôme resolved, if possible, to bring him to a
battle, and to that end made dispositions to attack Luzara, we were
surprised to find, the 15th of June 1702, the whole imperial army
appeared in _battalia_, and in full march, to attack us.

As it happened, our army was all marching in columns towards them, as
we had done for two days before; and I should have told you that,
three days before, the duke having noticed that General Visconti, with
three imperial regiments of horse and one of dragoons, was posted at
San-Victoria, on the Tessona, he resolved to attack them; and this
design was carried so secretly, that while Monsieur Visconti, though
our army was three leagues another way, was passing towards the
Modenese, he found himself unexpectedly attacked by six thousand horse
and dragoons of the French army. He defended himself very bravely for
near an hour; when, being overpowered, and finding he should be forced
into disorder, he sounded a retreat. But the squadrons had not faced
about to make their retreat scarce a quarter of an hour, when they
found themselves surrounded with a great body of infantry, who had
entirely cut off their retreat, except over the bridge of Tessona,
which being thronged with their baggage, they could neither get
backward or forward; so they thrust and tumbled over one another in
such a manner that they could preserve no kind of order; but abundance
fell into the river and were drowned, many were killed, and more taken
prisoners; so that, in a word, the whole three regiments of horse and
one of dragoons were entirely defeated.

This was a great blow to the prince, because they were some of the
choicest troops of his whole army. We took about four hundred
prisoners, and all their baggage, which was a very considerable booty,
and about eight hundred horses; and no doubt these troops were very
much wanted in the battle that ensued on the 15th, as I have said. Our
army being in full march, as above, to attack Luzara, a party of
Germans appeared, being about six hundred horse, and in less than an
hour more their whole army, in order of battle.

Our army formed immediately, and the duke posted the regiments as they
came up so much to their advantage that Prince Eugene was obliged to
alter his dispositions, and had this particular inconvenience upon his
hands, viz., to attack an army superior to his own, in all their most
advantageous posts; whereas, had he thought fit to have waited but one
day, we should have met him half-way. But this was owing to the pride
of the German generals, and their being so opinionated of the goodness
of their troops. The royal army was posted with the left to the great
river Po, on the other side of which the Prince of Vaudemont's army
lay cannonading the intrenchments which the imperialists had made at
Borgo Fort; and hearing that there was like to be a general battle, he
detached twelve battalions and about a thousand horse, to reinforce
the royal army; all which, to our great encouragement, had time to
join the army, while Prince Eugene was making his new dispositions for
the attack. And yet it was the coming of these troops which caused
Prince Eugene to resolve to begin the fight, expecting to have come to
an action before they could come up. But he was disappointed in the
reason of fighting, and yet was obliged to fight too, which was an
error in the prince that it was too late to retrieve.

It was five o'clock in the evening before he could bring up his whole
line to engage; and then, after having cannonaded us to no great
purpose for half-an-hour, his right, commanded by the Prince de
Commercy, attacked our left wing with great fury. Our men received
them so well and seconded one another so punctually that they were
repulsed with a very great slaughter; and the Prince de Commercy
being, unhappily for them, killed in the first onset, the regiments,
for want of orders, and surprised with the fall of so great a man,
were pushed into disorder, and one whole brigade was entirely broke.

But their second line, advancing under General Herbeville, restored
things in the first. The battalions rallied, and they came boldly on
to charge a second time, and being seconded with new reinforcements
from their main body, our men had their turn, and were pushed to a
canal which lay on their left flank between them and the Po, behind
which they rallied; and being supported by new troops, as well horse
as foot, they fought on both sides with the utmost obstinacy, and with
such courage and skill that it was not possible to judge who should
have had the better could they have been able to have fought it out.

On the right of the royal army was posted the flower of the French
cavalry--namely, the gendarmes, the royal carbineers, and the queen's
horse-guards, with four hundred horse more--and next them the
infantry, among which were our brigade. The horse advanced first to
charge, and they carried all before them sword in hand, receiving the
fire of two imperial regiments of cuirassiers without firing a shot,
and falling in among them, bore them down by the strength of their
horses, putting them into confusion, and left so clear a field for us
to follow that the first line of our infantry stood drawn up upon the
ground which the enemy at first possessed.

In this first attack the Marquis de Crequi, who commanded the whole
right wing, was killed--a loss which fully balanced the death of the
Prince de Commercy on the side of the Germans. After we had thus
pushed the enemy's cavalry, as above, their troops, being rallied by
the dexterity of their generals and supported by three imperial
regiments of foot, came on again to the charge with such fury that
nothing could withstand them. And here two battalions of our Irish
regiments were put into disorder, and abundance of our men killed; and
here also I had the misfortune to receive a musket-shot, which broke
my left arm; and that was not all, for I was knocked down by a
giant-like German soldier, who, when he thought he had killed me, set
his foot upon me, but was immediately shot dead by one of my men, and
fell just upon me, which, my arm being broken, was a very great
mischief to me; for the very weight of the fellow, who was almost as
big as a horse, was such that I was not able to stir.

Our men were beaten back after this from the place where they stood;
and so I was left in possession of the enemy, but was not their
prisoner--that is to say, was not found till next morning, when a
party being sent, as usual, with surgeons to look after the wounded
men among the dead, found me almost smothered with the dead Germans
and others that lay near me. However, to do them justice, they used me
with humanity, and the surgeons set my arm very skilfully and well;
and four or five days after, I had liberty to go to Parma upon parole.

Both the armies continued fighting, especially on our left, till it
was so dark that it was impossible to know who they fired at, or for
the generals to see what they did; so they abated firing gradually,
and, as it may be truly said, the night parted them.

Both sides claimed the victory, and both concealed their losses as
much as it was possible; but it is certain that never battle was
fought with greater bravery and obstinacy than this was; and had there
been daylight to have fought it out, doubtless there would have been
many thousand more men killed on both sides.

All the Germans had to entitle them to the victory was, that they made
our left retire, as I have said, to the canal, and to the high banks
or mounds on the edge of the Po; but they had so much advantage in the
retreat--they fired from thence among the thickest of the enemy, and
could never be forced from their posts.

The best testimony the royal army had of the victory, and which was
certainly the better of the two, was, that, two days after the fight,
they attacked Guastalia, as it were in view of the German army, and
forced the garrison to surrender, and to swear not to serve again for
six months, which, they being fifteen hundred men, was a great loss to
the Germans; and yet Prince Eugene did not offer to relieve it. And
after that we took several other posts which the imperialists had
possession of, but were obliged to quit them upon the approach of the
French army, not being in a condition to fight another battle that
year.

My campaign was now at an end, and though I came lame off, I came off
much better than abundance of gentlemen; for in that bloody battle we
had above four hundred officers killed or wounded, whereof three were
general officers.

The campaign held on till December, and the Duke de Vendôme took Borgo
Fort and several other places from the Germans, who, in short, lost
ground every day in Italy. I was a prisoner a great while, and there
being no cartel settled, Prince Eugene ordered the French prisoners to
be sent into Hungary, which was a cruelty that could not be reasonably
exercised on them. However, a great many, by that banishment, found
means to make their escape to the Turks, by whom they were kindly
received, and the French ambassador at Constantinople took care of
them, and shipped them back again into Italy at the king's charge.

But the Duke de Vendôme now took so many German prisoners that Prince
Eugene was tired of sending his prisoners to Hungary, and was obliged
to be at the charge of bringing some of them back again whom he had
sent thither, and come to agree to a general exchange of prisoners.

I was, as I have said, allowed for a time to go to Parma upon my
parole, where I continued for the recovery of my wound and broken arm
forty days, and was then obliged to render myself to the commanding
officer at Ferrara, where Prince Eugene coming soon after, I was, with
several other prisoners of war, sent away into the Milanese, to be
kept for an exchange of prisoners.

It was in the city of Trent that I continued about eight months. The
man in whose house I quartered was exceedingly civil to me, and took a
great deal of care of me, and I lived very easy. Here I contracted a
kind of familiarity, perfectly undesigned by me, with the daughter of
the burgher at whose house I had lodged, and, I know not by what
fatality that was upon me, I was prevailed with afterwards to marry
her. This was a piece of honesty on my side which I must acknowledge I
never intended to be guilty of; but the girl was too cunning for me,
for she found means to get some wine into my head more than I used to
drink, and though I was not so disordered with it but that I knew very
well what I did, yet in an unusual height of good humour I consented
to be married. This impolitic piece of honesty put me to many
inconveniences, for I knew not what to do with this clog which I had
loaded myself with. I could neither stay with her or take her with me,
so that I was exceedingly perplexed.

The time came soon after that I was released by the cartel, and so was
obliged to go to my regiment, which then was in quarters in the
Milanese, and from thence I got leave to go to Paris, upon my promise
to raise some recruits in England for the Irish regiments, by the help
of my correspondence there. Having thus leave to go to Paris, I took a
passport from the enemy's army to go to Trent, and making a long
circuit, I went back thither, and very honestly packed up my baggage,
wife and all, and brought her away through Tyrol into Bavaria, and so
through Suabia and the Black Forest into Alsatia; from thence I came
into Lorraine, and so to Paris.

I had now a secret design to quit the war, for I really had had enough
of fighting. But it was counted so dishonourable a thing to quit while
the army was in the field that I could not dispense with it; but an
intervening accident made that part easy to me. The war was now
renewed between France and England and Holland, just as it was before;
and the French king, meditating nothing more than how to give the
English a diversion, fitted out a strong squadron of men-of-war and
frigates at Dunkirk, on board of which he embarked a body of troops of
about six thousand five hundred men, besides volunteers; and the new
king, as we called him, though more generally he was called the
Chevalier de St. George, was shipped along with them, and all for
Scotland.

I pretended a great deal of zeal for this service, and that if I might
be permitted to sell my company in the Irish regiment I was in, and
have the chevalier's brevet for a colonel, in case of raising troops
for him in Great Britain after his arrival, I would embark volunteer
and serve at my own expense. The latter gave me a great advantage with
the chevalier; for now I was esteemed as a man of consideration, and
one that must have a considerable interest in my own country. So I
obtained leave to sell my company, and having had a good round sum of
money remitted me from London, by the way of Holland, I prepared a
very handsome equipage, and away I went to Dunkirk to embark.

I was very well received by the chevalier; and as he had an account
that I was an officer in the Irish brigade, and had served in Italy,
and consequently was an old soldier, all this added to the character
which I had before, and made me have a great deal of honour paid me,
though at the same time I had no particular attachment to his person
or to his cause. Nor indeed did I much consider the cause of one side
or other. If I had, I should hardly have risked, not my life only, but
effects too, which were all, as I might say, from that moment
forfeited to the English government, and were too evidently in their
power to confiscate at their pleasure.

However, having just received a remittance from London of £300
sterling, and sold my company in the Irish regiment for very near as
much, I was not only insensibly drawn in, but was perfectly volunteer
in that dull cause, and away I went with them at all hazards. It
belongs very little to my history to give an account of that fruitless
expedition, only to tell you that, being so closely and effectually
chased by the English fleet, which was superior in force to the
French, I may say that, in escaping them, I escaped being hanged.

It was the good fortune of the French that they overshot the port they
aimed at, and intending for the Frith of Forth, or, as it is called,
the Frith of Edinburgh, the first land they made was as far north as a
place called Montrose, where it was not their business to land, and so
they were obliged to come back to the frith, and were gotten to the
entrance of it, and came to an anchor for the tide. But this delay or
hindrance gave time to the English, under Sir George Byng, to come to
the frith, and they came to an anchor, just as we did, only waiting to
go up the frith with the flood.

Had we not overshot the port, as above, all our squadron had been
destroyed in two days, and all we could have done had been to have
gotten into the pier or haven at Leith with the smaller frigates, and
have landed the troops and ammunition; but we must have set fire to
the men-of-war, for the English squadron was not above twenty-four
hours behind us, or thereabout.

Upon this surprise, the French admiral set sail from the north point
of the frith where we lay, and crowding away to the north, got the
start of the English fleet, and made their escape, with the loss of
one ship only, which, being behind the rest, could not get away.

When we were satisfied the English left chasing us, which was not till
the third night, when we altered our course and lost sight of them, we
stood over to the coast of Norway, and keeping that shore on board all
the way to the mouth of the Baltic, we came to an anchor again, and
sent two scouts abroad to learn news, to see if the sea was clear; and
being satisfied that the enemy did not chase us, we kept on with an
easier sail, and came all back again to Dunkirk; and glad I was to set
my foot on shore again; for all the while we were thus flying for our
lives I was under the greatest terror imaginable, and nothing but
halters and gibbets run in my head, concluding that, if I had been
taken, I should certainly have been hanged.

But the care was now over. I took my leave of the chevalier, and of
the army, and made haste to Paris. I came so unexpectedly to Paris,
and to my own lodgings, that it was my misfortune to make a discovery
relating to my wife which was not at all to my satisfaction; for I
found her ladyship had kept some company that I had reason to believe
were not such as an honest woman ought to have conversed with, and as
I knew her temper by what I had found of her myself, I grew very
jealous and uneasy about her. I must own it touched me very nearly,
for I began to have an extraordinary value for her, and her behaviour
was very taking, especially after I had brought her into France; but
having a vein of levity, it was impossible to prevent her running into
such things in a town so full of what they call gallantry as Paris.

It vexed me also to think that it should be my fate to be a cuckold
both abroad and at home, and sometimes I would be in such a rage about
it that I had no government of myself when I thought of it. Whole
days, and I may say sometimes whole nights, I spent musing and
considering what I should do to her, and especially what I should do
to the villain, whoever he was, that had thus abused and supplanted
me. Here indeed I committed murder more than once, or indeed than a
hundred times, in my imagination; and, as the devil is certainly an
apparent prompter to wickedness, if he is not the first mover of it in
our minds, he teased me night and day with proposals to kill my wife.

This horrid project he carried up so high, by raising fierce thoughts
and fomenting the blood upon my contemplation of the word cuckold,
that, in short, I left debating whether I should murder her or no, as
a thing out of the question, and determined; and my thoughts were then
taken up only with the management how I should kill her, and how to
make my escape after I had done it.

All this while I had no sufficient evidence of her guilt, neither had
I so much as charged her with it or let her know I suspected her,
otherwise than as she might perceive it in my conduct, and in the
change of my behaviour to her, which was such that she could not but
perceive that something troubled me. Yet she took no notice of it to
me, but received me very well, and showed herself to be glad of my
return. Nor did I find she had been extravagant in her expenses while
I was abroad. But jealousy, as the wise man says, is the wrath of a
man; her being so good a hussy at what money I had left her gave my
distempered fancy an opinion that she had been maintained by other
people, and so had had no occasion to spend.

I must confess she had a difficult point here upon her, though she had
been really honest; for, as my head was prepossessed of her
dishonesty, if she had been lavish I should have said she had spent it
upon her gentlemen; and as she had been frugal, I said she had been
maintained by them. Thus, I say, my head was distempered; I believed
myself abused, and nothing could put it out of my thoughts night or
day.

All this while it was not visibly broken out between us; but I was so
fully possessed with the belief of it that I seemed to want no
evidence, and I looked with an evil eye upon everybody that came near
her or that she conversed with. There was an officer of the Guards du
Corps that lodged in the same house with us, a very honest gentleman
and a man of quality. I happened to be in a little drawing-room
adjoining to a parlour where my wife sat at that time, and this
gentleman came into the parlour, which, as he was one of the family,
he might have done without offence; but he, not knowing that I was in
the drawing-room, sat down and talked with my wife. I heard every word
they said, for the door between us was open; nor could I say that
there passed anything between them but cursory discourse. They talked
of casual things, of a young lady, a burgher's daughter of nineteen,
that had been married the week before to an advocate in the Parliament
of Paris, vastly rich, and about sixty-three; and of another, a widow
lady of fortune in Paris, that had married her deceased husband's
_valet de chamber_; and of such casual matters, that I could find no
fault with her now at all.

But it filled my head with jealous thoughts and fired my temper. Now I
fancied he used too much freedom with her, then that she used too much
freedom to him, and once or twice I was upon the point of breaking in
upon them and affronting them both, but I restrained myself. At length
he talked some thing merrily of the lady throwing away her maiden
head, as I understood it, upon an old man; but still it was nothing
indecent. But I, who was all on fire already, could bear it no longer,
but started up and came into the room, and catching at my wife's
words, "Say you so, madam?" said I. "Was he too old for her?" and
giving the officer a look that I fancy was something akin to the face
on the sign called the Bull and Mouth, within Aldersgate, I went out
into the street.

The marquis--so he was styled--a man of honour and of spirit too, took
it as I meant it, and followed me in a moment and "hemmed" after me in
the street; upon which I stopped, and he came up to me. "Sir," said
he, "our circumstances are very unhappy in France, that we cannot do
ourselves justice here without the most severe treatment in the world.
But, come on it what will, you must explain yourself to me on the
subject of your behaviour just now."

I was a little cooled as to the point of my conduct to him in the very
few moments that had passed, and was very sensible that I was wrong to
him; and I said, therefore, to him, very frankly, "Sir, you are a
gentleman whom I know very well, and I have a very great respect for
you; but I had been disturbed a little about the conduct of my wife,
and were it your own case, what would you have done less?"

"I am sorry for any dislike between you and your wife," says he; "but
what is that to me? Can you charge me with any indecency to her,
except my talking so and so?" (at which he repeated the words); "and
as I knew you were in the next room and heard every word, and that all
the doors were open, I thought no man could have taken amiss so
innocent an expression."

"I could no otherwise take it amiss," said I, "than as I thought it
implied a farther familiarity, and that you cannot expect should be
borne by any man of honour. However, sir," said I, "I spoke only to my
wife. I said nothing to you, but gave you my hat as I passed you."

"Yes," said he, "and a look as full of rage as the devil. Are there no
words in such looks?"

"I can say nothing to that," said I, "for I cannot see my own
countenance; but my rage, as you call it, was at my wife, not at you."

"But hark you, sir," said he, growing warm as I grew calm, "your anger
at your wife was for her discourse with me, and I think that concerns
me too, and I ought to resent it."

"I think not, sir," said I; "nor, had I found you in bed with my wife,
would I have quarrelled with you; for if my wife will let you lie with
her, it is she is the offender. What have I to do with you? You could
not lie with her if she was not willing; and if she is willing to be a
whore, I ought to punish her; but I should have no quarrel with you. I
will lie with your wife if I can, and then I am even with you."

I spoke this all in good humour and in order to pacify him, but it
would not do; but he would have me give him satisfaction, as he called
it. I told him I was a stranger in the country, and perhaps should
find little mercy in their course of justice; that it was not my
business to fight any man in his vindicating his keeping company with
my wife, for that the injury was mine, in having a bad woman to deal
with; that there was no reason in the thing, that after any man should
have found the way into my bed, I, who am injured, should go and stake
my life upon an equal hazard against the man who has abused me.

Nothing would prevail with this person to be quiet for all this; but I
had affronted him, and no satisfaction could be made him but that at
the point of the sword; so we agreed to go away together to Lisle, in
Flanders. I was now soldier enough not to be afraid to look a man in
the face, and as the rage at my wife inspired me with courage, so he
let fall a word that fired and provoked me beyond all patience; for,
speaking of the distrust I had of my wife, he said, unless I had good
information I ought not to suspect my wife. I told him, if I had good
information, I should be past suspicion. He replied, if he was the
happy man, that had so much of her favour, he would take care then to
put me past the suspicion. I gave him as rough an answer as he could
desire, and he returned in French, _"Nous verrons à Lisle_;" that is
to say, "We will talk further of it at Lisle."

I told him I did not see the benefit either to him or me of going so
far as Lisle to decide this quarrel, since now I perceived he was the
man I wanted; that we might decide this quarrel _au champ_, upon the
spot, and whoever had the fortune to fall the other might make his
escape to Lisle as well afterwards as before.

Thus we walked on talking very ill-naturedly on both sides, and yet
very mannerly, till we came clear of the suburbs of Paris, on the way
to Charenton; when, seeing the way clear, I told him under those trees
was a very fit place for us, pointing to a row of trees adjoining to
Monsieur ----'s garden-wall. So we went thither, and fell to work
immediately. After some fencing he made a home-thrust at me, and run
me into my arm, a long slanting wound, but at the same time received
my point into his body, and soon after fell. He spoke some words
before he dropped; first he told me I had killed him; then he said he
had indeed wronged me, and as he knew it, he ought not to have fought
me. He desired I would make my escape immediately, which I did into
the city, but no farther, nobody, as I thought, having seen us
together. In the afternoon, about six hours after the action,
messengers brought news, one on the heels of another, that the marquis
was mortally wounded, and carried into a house at Charenton. That
account, saying he was not dead, surprised me a little, not doubting
but that, concluding I had made my escape, he would own who it was.
However, I discovered nothing of my concern, but, going up into my
chamber, I took out of a cabinet there what money I had, which indeed
was so much as I thought would be sufficient for my expenses. But
having an accepted bill for two thousand livres, I walked sedately to
a merchant who knew me, and got fifty pistoles of him upon my bill,
letting him know my business called me to England, and I would take
the rest of him when he had received it.

Having furnished myself thus, I provided me a horse for my servant,
for I had one very good one of my own, and once more ventured home to
my lodging, where I heard again that the marquis was not dead. My wife
all this while covered her concern for the marquis so well that she
gave me no room to make any remark upon her; but she saw evidently the
marks of rage and deep resentment in my behaviour after some little
stay, and perceiving me making preparation for a journey, she said to
me, "Are you going out of town?" "Yes, madam," says I, "that you may
have room to mourn for your friend the marquis;" at which she started,
and showed she was indeed in a most terrible fright, and making a
thousand crosses about herself, with a great many callings upon the
Blessed Virgin and her country saints, she burst out at last, "Is it
possible? Are you the man that has killed the marquis? Then you are
undone, and I too."

"You may, madam, be a loser by the marquis being killed; but I'll take
care to be as little a loser by you as I can. 'Tis enough; the marquis
has honestly confessed your guilt, and I have done with you." She
would have thrown herself into my arms, protesting her innocence, and
told me she would fly with me, and would convince me of her fidelity
by such testimonies as I could not but be satisfied with, but I thrust
her violently from me. "_Allez, infame!_" said I. "Go, infamous
creature, and take from me the necessity I should be under, if I
stayed, of sending you to keep company with your dear friend the
marquis." I thrust her away with such force that she fell backward
upon the floor, and cried out most terribly, and indeed she had
reason, for she was very much hurt.

It grieved me indeed to have thrust her away with such force, but you
must consider me now in the circumstances of a man enraged, and, as it
were, out of himself, furious and mad. However, I took her up from the
floor and laid her on the bed, and calling up her maid, bid her go and
take care of her mistress; and, going soon after out of doors, I took
horse and made the best of my way, not towards Calais or Dunkirk, or
towards Flanders, whither it might be suggested I was fled, and
whither they did pursue me the same evening, but I took the direct
road for Lorraine, and riding all night and very hard, I passed the
Maine the next day at night, at Chalons, and came safe into the Duke
of Lorraine's dominions the third day, where I rested one day only to
consider what course to take; for it was still a most difficult thing
to pass any way, but that I should either be in the king of France's
dominions or be taken by the French allies as a subject of France. But
getting good advice from a priest at Bar le Duc, who, though I did not
tell him the particulars of my case, yet guessed how it was, it being,
as he said, very usual for gentlemen in my circumstances to fly that
way;--upon this supposition, this kind _padre_ got me a church pass;
that is to say, he made me a purveyor for the abbey of ----, and, as
such, got me a passport to go to Deux Ponts, which belonged to the
king of Sweden. Having such authority there, and the priest's
recommendation to an ecclesiastic in the place, I got passports from
thence in the king of Sweden's name to Cologne, and then I was
thoroughly safe. So, making my way to the Netherlands without any
difficulty, I came to the Hague, and from thence, though very
privately and by several names, I came to England. And thus I got
clear of my Italian wife--whore I should have called her; for, after I
had made her so myself, how should I expect any other of her?

Being arrived at London, I wrote to my friend at Paris, but dated my
letters from the Hague, where I ordered him to direct his answers. The
chief business of my writing was to know if my bill was paid him, to
inquire if any pursuit was made after me, and what other news he had
about me or my wife, and particularly how it had fared with the
marquis.

I received an answer in a few days, importing that he had received the
money on my bill, which he was ready to pay as I should direct; that
the marquis was not dead; "but," said he, "you have killed him another
way, for he has lost his commission in the Guards, which was worth to
him twenty thousand livres, and he is yet a close prisoner in the
Bastile;" that pursuit was ordered after me upon suspicion; that they
had followed me to Amiens, on the road to Dunkirk, and to Chastean de
Cambresis, on the way to Flanders, but missing me that way, had given
it over; that the marquis had been too well instructed to own that he
had fought with me, but said that he was assaulted on the road, and
unless I could be taken, he would take his trial and come off for want
of proof; that my flying was a circumstance indeed that moved strongly
against him, because it was known that we had had some words that day,
and were seen to walk together, but that, nothing being proved on
either side, he would come off with the loss of his commission, which,
however, being very rich, he could bear well enough.

As to my wife, he wrote me word she was inconsolable, and had cried
herself to death almost; but he added (very ill-natured indeed),
whether it was for me or for the marquis, that he could not determine.
He likewise told me she was in very bad circumstances and very low, so
that, if I did not take some care of her, she would come to be in very
great distress.

The latter part of this story moved me indeed, for I thought, however
it was, I ought not to let her starve; and, besides, poverty was a
temptation which a woman could not easily withstand, and I ought not
to be the instrument to drive her to a horrid necessity of crime, if I
could prevent it.

Upon this I wrote to him again to go to her, and talk with her, and
learn as much as he could of her particular circumstances; and that,
if he found she was really in want, and, particularly, that she did
not live a scandalous life, he should give her twenty pistoles, and
tell her, if she would engage to live retired and honestly, she should
have so much annually, which was enough to subsist her.

She took the first twenty pistoles, but bade him tell me that I had
wronged her and unjustly charged her, and I ought to do her justice;
and I had ruined her by exposing her in such a manner as I had, having
no proof of my charge or ground for any suspicion; that, as to twenty
pistoles a year, it was a mean allowance to a wife that had travelled
over the world, as she had done with me, and the like; and so
expostulated with him to obtain forty pistoles a year of me, which I
consented to. But she never gave me the trouble of paying above one
year; for after that the marquis was so fond of her again that he took
her away to himself, and, as my friend wrote me word, had settled four
hundred crowns a year on her, and I never heard any more of her.

I was now in London, but was obliged to be very retired and change my
name, letting nobody in the nation know who I was, except my merchant
by whom I corresponded with my people in Virginia; and particularly
with my tutor, who was now become the head manager of my affairs, and
was in very good circumstances himself also by my means. But he
deserved all I did or could do for him, for he was a most faithful
friend as well as servant, as ever man had, in that country at least.

I was not the easiest man alive, in the retired, solitary manner I now
lived in; and I experienced the truth of the text, that "it is not
good for man to be alone," for I was extremely melancholy and heavy,
and indeed knew not what to do with myself, particularly because I was
under some restraint, that I was too afraid to go abroad. At last I
resolved to go quite away, and go to Virginia again, and there live
retired as I could.

But when I came to consider that part more narrowly, I could not
prevail with myself to live a private life. I had got a wandering kind
of taste, and knowledge of things begat a desire of increasing it, and
an exceeding delight I had in it, though I had nothing to do in the
armies or in war, and did not design ever to meddle with it again. Yet
I could not live in the world and not inquire what was doing in it;
nor could I think of living in Virginia, where I was to hear my news
twice a year, and read the public accounts of what was just then upon
the stocks, as the history of things past.

This was my notion: I was now in my native country, where my
circumstances were easy, and though I had ill-luck abroad, for I
brought little money home with me, yet, by a little good management, I
might soon have money by me. I had nobody to keep but myself, and my
plantations in Virginia generally returned me from £400 to £600 a
year, one year above £700, and to go thither, I concluded, was to be
buried alive; so I put off all thoughts of it, and resolved to settle
somewhere in England where I might know everybody and nobody know me.
I was not long in concluding where to pitch, for as I spoke the French
tongue perfectly well, having been so many years among them, it was
easy for me to pass for a Frenchman. So I went to Canterbury, called
myself an Englishman among the French, and a Frenchman among the
English; and on that score was the more perfectly concealed, going by
the name of Monsieur Charnot with the French, and was called Mr.
Charnock among the English.

Here indeed I lived perfectly incog. I made no particular acquaintance
so as to be intimate, and yet I knew everybody, and everybody knew me.
I discoursed in common, talked French with the Walloons, and English
with the English; and lived retired and sober, and was well enough
received by all sorts; but as I meddled with nobody's business, so
nobody meddled with mine; I thought I lived pretty well.

But I was not fully satisfied. A settled family life was the thing I
loved; had made two pushes at it, as you have heard, but with
ill-success; yet the miscarriage of what was past did not discourage
me at all, but I resolved to marry. I looked out for a woman as
suitable as I could, but always found some thing or other to shock my
fancy, except once a gentleman's daughter of good fashion; but I met
with so many repulses of one kind or another that I was forced to give
it over; and indeed, though I might be said to be a lover in this
suit, and had managed myself so well with the young lady that I had no
difficulty left but what would soon have been adjusted, yet her father
was so difficult, made so many objections, was to-day not pleased one
way, to-morrow another, that he would stand by nothing that he himself
had proposed, nor could he be ever brought to be of the same mind two
days together; so that we at last put an end to the pretensions, for
she would not marry without her father's consent, and I would not
steal her, and so that affair ended.

I cannot say but I was a little vexed at the dis appointment of
this, so I left the city of Canterbury and went to London in the
stage-coach. Here I had an odd scene presented as ever happened of its
kind.

There was in the stage-coach a young woman and her maid. She was
sitting in a very melancholy posture, for she was in the coach before
me, and sighed most dreadfully all the way, and whenever her maid
spoke to her she burst out into tears. I was not long in the coach
with her but, seeing she made such a dismal figure, I offered to
comfort her a little, and inquired into the occasion of her
affliction. But she would not speak a word; but her maid, with a force
of crying too, said her master was dead, at which word the lady burst
out again into a passion of crying, and between mistress and maid this
was all I could get for the morning part of that day. When we came to
dine, I offered the lady, that seeing, I supposed, she would not dine
with the company, if she would please to dine with me, I would dine in
a separate room; for the rest of the company were foreigners. Her maid
thanked me in her mistresses name, but her mistress could eat nothing,
and desired to be private.

Here, however, I had some discourse with the maid, from whom I learned
that the lady was wife to a captain of a ship, who was outward bound
to somewhere in the Straits--I think it was to Zante and Venice; that,
being gone no farther than the Downs, he was taken sick, and after
about ten days' illness had died at Deal; that his wife, hearing of
his sickness, had gone to Deal to see him, and had come but just time
enough to see him die; had stayed there to bury him, and was now
coming to London in a sad, disconsolate condition indeed.

I heartily pitied the young gentlewoman indeed, and said some things
to her in the coach to let her know I did so, which she gave no answer
to, but in civility now and then made a bow, but never gave me the
least opportunity to see her face, or so much as to know whether she
had a face or no, much less to guess what form of a face it was. It
was winter time, and the coach put up at Rochester, not going through
in a day, as was usual in summer; and a little before we came to
Rochester I told the lady I understood she had ate nothing to-day,
that such a course would but make her sick, and, doing her harm, could
do her deceased husband no good; and therefore I entreated her that,
as I was a stranger, and only offered a civility to her in order to
abate her severely afflicting herself, she would yield so far to
matters of ceremony as let us sup together as passengers; for, as to
the strangers, they did not seem to understand the custom or to desire
it.

She bowed, but gave no answer; only, after pressing her by arguments,
which she could not deny was very civil and kind, she returned, she
gave me thanks, but she could not eat. "Well, madam," said I, "do but
sit down; though you think you cannot eat, perhaps you may eat a bit.
Indeed you must eat, or you will destroy yourself at this rate of
living, and upon the road too; in a word, you will be sick indeed." I
argued with her. The maid put in, and said, "Do, madam; pray try to
divert yourself a little." I pressed her again, and she bowed to me
very respectfully, but still said, "No," and she could not eat. The
maid continued to importune her, and said, "Dear madam, do. The
gentleman is a civil gentleman; pray, madam, do;" and then, turning to
me, said, "My mistress will, sir, I hope," and seemed pleased, and
indeed was so.

However, I went on to persuade her; and, taking no notice of what her
maid said, that I was a civil gentleman, I told her, "I am a stranger
to you, madam; but if I thought you were shy of me on any account, as
to civility, I will send my supper up to you in your own chamber, and
stay below myself." She bowed then to me twice, and looked up, which
was the first time, and said she had no suspicion of that kind; that
my offer was so civil that she was as much ashamed to refuse it as she
should be ashamed to accept it, if she was where she was known; that
she thought I was not quite a stranger to her, for she had seen me
before; that she would accept my offer so far as to sit at table,
because I desired it; but she could not promise me to eat, and that
she hoped I would take the other as a constraint upon her, in return
to so much kindness.

She startled me when she said she had seen me before; for I had not
the least knowledge of her, nor did I remember so much as to have
heard of her name; for I had asked her name of her maid; and indeed it
made me almost repent my compliment, for it was many ways essential to
me not to be known. However, I could not go back; and, besides, if I
was known, it was essentially necessary to me to know who it was that
knew me, and by what circumstances; so I went on with my compliment.

We came to the inn but just before it was dark. I offered to hand my
widow out of the coach, and she could not decline it; but though her
hoods were not then much over her face, yet, being dark, I could see
little of her then. I waited on her then into the stairfoot, and led
her up the inn-stairs to a dining-room which the master of the house
offered to show us, as if for the whole company; but she declined
going in there, and said she desired rather to go directly to her
chamber, and turning to her maid, bade her speak to the innkeeper to
show her to her lodging-room. So I waited on her to the door, and took
my leave, telling her I would expect her at supper.

In order to treat her moderately well, and not extravagantly, for I
had no thoughts of anything farther than civility, which was the
effect of mere compassion for the unhappiness of the most truly
disconsolate woman that I ever met with; I say, in order to treat her
handsomely, but not extravagantly, I provided what the house afforded,
which was a couple of partridges and a very good dish of stewed
oysters. They brought us up afterwards a neat's tongue and a ham that
was almost cut quite down, but we ate none of it; for the other was
fully enough for us both, and the maid made her supper off the oysters
we had left, which were enough.

I mention this because it should appear I did not treat her as a
person I was making any court to, for I had nothing of that in my
thoughts; but merely in pity to the poor woman, who I saw in a
circumstance that was indeed very unhappy.

When I gave her maid notice that supper was ready, she fetched her
mistress, coming in before her with a candle in her hand, and then it
was that I saw her face, and being in her dishabille, she had no hood
over her eyes or black upon her head, when I was truly surprised to
see one of the most beautiful faces upon earth. I saluted her, and led
her to the fireside, the table, though spread, being too far from the
fire, the weather being cold.

She was now something sociable, though very grave, and sighed often on
account of her circumstances. But she so handsomely governed her
grief, yet so artfully made it mingle itself with all her discourse,
that it added exceedingly to her behaviour, which was every way most
exquisitely genteel. I had a great deal of discourse with her, and
upon many subjects, and by degrees took her name, that is to say, from
herself, as I had done before from her maid; also the place where she
lived, viz., near Ratcliff, or rather Stepney, where I asked her leave
to pay her a visit when she thought fit to admit company, which she
seemed to intimate would not be a great while.

It is a subject too surfeiting to entertain people with the beauty of
a person they will never see. Let it suffice to tell them she was the
most beautiful creature of her sex that I ever saw before or since;
and it cannot be wondered if I was charmed with her the very first
moment I saw her face. Her behaviour was likewise a beauty in itself,
and was so extraordinary that I cannot say I can describe it.

The next day she was much more free than she was the first night, and
I had so much conversation as to enter into particulars of things on
both sides; also she gave me leave to come and see her house, which,
however, I did not do under a fortnight or thereabouts, because I did
not know how far she would dispense with the ceremony which it was
necessary to keep up at the beginning of the mourning.

However, I came as a man that had business with her, relating to the
ship her husband was dead out of, and the first time I came was
admitted; and, in short, the first time I came I made love to her. She
received that proposal with disdain. I cannot indeed say she treated
me with any disrespect, but she said she abhorred the offer, and would
hear no more of it. How I came to make such a proposal to her I scarce
knew then, though it was very much my intention from the first.

In the meantime I inquired into her circumstances and her character,
and heard nothing but what was very agreeable of them both; and, above
all, I found she had the report of the best-humoured lady and the
best-bred of all that part of the town; and now I thought I had found
what I had so often wished for to make me happy and had twice
miscarried in, and resolved not to miss her, if it was possible to
obtain her.

It came indeed a little into my thoughts that I was a married man, and
had a second wife alive, who, though she was false to me and a whore,
yet I was not legally divorced from her, and that she was my wife for
all that. But I soon got over that part; for, first, as she was a
whore, and the marquis had confessed it to me, I was divorced in law,
and I had a power to put her away. But having had the misfortune of
fighting a duel, and being obliged to quit the country, I could not
claim the legal process which was my right, and therefore might
conclude myself as much divorced as if it had been actually done, and
so that scruple vanished.

I suffered now two months to run without pressing my widow any more,
only I kept a strict watch to find if any one else pretended to her.
At the end of two months I visited her again, when I found she
received me with more freedom, and we had no more sighs and sobs about
the last husband; and though she would not let me press my former
proposal so far as I thought I might have done, yet I found I had
leave to come again, and it was the article of decency which she stood
upon as much as anything; that I was not disagreeable to her, and that
my using her so handsomely upon the road had given me a great
advantage in her favour.

I went on gradually with her, and gave her leave to stand off for two
months more. But then I told her the matter of decency, which was but
a ceremony, was not to stand in competition with the matter of
affection; and, in short, I could not bear any longer delay, but that,
if she thought fit, we might marry privately; and, to cut the story
short, as I did my courtship, in about five months I got her in the
mind, and we were privately married, and that with so very exact a
concealment that her maid, that was so instrumental in it, yet had no
knowledge of it for near a month more.

I was now, not only in my imagination, but in reality, the most happy
creature in the world, as I was so infinitely satisfied with my wife,
who was indeed the best-humoured woman in the world, a most
accomplished, beautiful creature indeed, perfectly well-bred, and had
not one ill quality about her; and this happiness continued without
the least interruption for about six years.

But I, that was to be the most unhappy fellow alive in the article of
matrimony, had at last a disappointment of the worst sort even here. I
had three fine children by her, and in her time of lying-in with the
last she got some cold, that she did not in a long time get off; and,
in short, she grew very sickly. In being so continually ill and out of
order, she very unhappily got a habit of drinking cordials and hot
liquors. Drink, like the devil, when it gets hold of any one, though
but a little, it goes on by little and little to their destruction. So
in my wife, her stomach being weak and faint, she first took this
cordial, then that, till, in short, she could not live without them,
and from a drop to a sup, from a sup to a dram, from a dram to a
glass, and so on to two, till at last she took, in short, to what we
call drinking.

As I likened drink to the devil, in its gradual possession of the
habits and person, so it is yet more like the devil in its
encroachment on us, where it gets hold of our senses. In short, my
beautiful, good-humoured, modest, well-bred wife grew a beast, a slave
to strong liquor, and would be drunk at her own table--nay, in her own
closet by herself, till, instead of a well-made, fine shape, she was
as fat as a hostess; her fine face, bloated and blotched, had not so
much as the ruins of the most beautiful person alive--nothing remained
but a good eye; that indeed she held to the last. In short, she lost
her beauty, her shape, her manners, and at last her virtue; and,
giving herself up to drinking, killed herself in about a year and a
half after she first began that cursed trade, in which time she twice
was exposed in the most scandalous manner with a captain of a ship,
who, like a villain, took the advantage of her being in drink and not
knowing what she did. But it had this unhappy effect, that instead of
her being ashamed and repenting of it when she came to herself, it
hardened her in the crime, and she grew as void of modesty at last as
of sobriety.

Oh, the power of intemperance! and how it encroaches on the best
dispositions in the world; how it comes upon us gradually and
insensibly; and what dismal effects it works upon our morals, changing
the most virtuous, regular, well-instructed, and well-inclined tempers
into worse than brutal! That was a good story, whether real or
invented, of the devil tempting a young man to murder his father. No,
he said; that was unnatural. "Why, then," says the devil, "go and lie
with your mother." "No," says he; "that is abominable." "Well, then,"
says the devil, "if you will do nothing else to oblige me, go and get
drunk." "Ay, ay," says the fellow, "I will do that." So he went and
made himself drunk as a swine, and when he was drunk, he murdered his
father and lay with his mother.

Never was a woman more virtuous, modest, chaste, sober; she never so
much as desired to drink any thing strong; it was with the greatest
entreaty that I could prevail with her to drink a glass or two of
wine, and rarely, if ever, above one or two at a time; even in company
she had no inclination to it. Not an immodest word ever came out of
her mouth, nor would she suffer it in any one else in her hearing
without resentment and abhorrence. But upon that weakness and illness
after her last lying-in, as above, the nurse pressed her, whenever she
found herself faint and a sinking of her spirits, to take this cordial
and that dram, to keep up her spirits, till it became necessary even
to keep her alive, and gradually increased to a habit, so that it was
no longer her physic but her food. Her appetite sunk and went quite
away, and she ate little or nothing, but came at last to such a
dreadful height that, as I have said, she would be drunk in her own
dressing-room by eleven o'clock in the morning, and, in short, at last
was never sober.

In this life of hellish excess, as I have said, she lost all that was
before so valuable in her, and a villain, if it be proper to call a
man who was really a gentleman by such a name, who was an intimate
acquaintance, coming to pretend a visit to her, made her and her maid
so drunk together that he lay with them both; with the mistress, the
maid being in the room, and with the maid, the mistress being in the
room; after which he, it seems, took the like liberty with them both
as often as he thought fit, till the wench, being with child,
discovered it for herself, and for her mistress too. Let any one judge
what was my case now. I, that for six years thought myself the
happiest man alive, was now the most miserable, distracted creature.
As to my wife, I loved her so well, and was so sensible of the
disaster of her drinking being the occasion of it all, that I could
not resent it to such a degree as I had done in her predecessor; but I
pitied her heartily. However, I put away all her servants, and almost
locked her up; that is to say, I set new people over her, who would
not suffer any one to come near her without my knowledge.

But what to do with the villain that had thus abused both her and me,
that was the question that remained. To fight him upon equal terms, I
thought, was a little hard; that after a man had treated me as he had
done, he deserved no fair play for his life. So I resolved to wait for
him in Stepney fields, and which way he often came home pretty late,
and pistol him in the dark, and, if possible, to let him know what I
killed him for before I did it. But when I came to consider of this,
it shocked my temper too as well as principle, and I could not be a
murderer, whatever else I could be, or whatever I was provoked to be.

However, I resolved, on the other hand, that I would severely correct
him for what he had done, and it was not long before I had an
opportunity; for, hearing one morning that he was walking across the
fields from Stepney to Shadwell, which way I knew he often went, I
waited for his coming home again, and fairly met him.

I had not many words with him, but told him I had long looked for him;
that he knew the villainy he had been guilty of in my family, and he
could not believe, since he knew also that I was fully informed of it,
but that I must be a great coward, as well as a cuckold, or that I
would resent it, and that it was now a very proper time to call him to
an account for it; and therefore bade him, if he durst show his face
to what he had done, and defend the name of a captain of a man-of-war,
as they said he had been, to draw.

He seemed surprised at the thing, and began to parley, and would
lessen the crime of it; but I told him it was not a time to talk that
way, since he could not deny the fact; and to lessen the crime was to
lay it the more upon the woman, who, I was sure, if he had not first
debauched with wine, he could never have brought to the rest; and,
seeing he refused to draw, I knocked him down with my cane at one
blow, and I would not strike him again while he lay on the ground, but
waited to see him recover a little; for I saw plainly he was not
killed. In a few minutes he came to himself again, and then I took him
fast by one wrist, and caned him as severely as I was able, and as
long as I could hold it for want of breath, but forbore his head,
because I was resolved he should feel it. In this condition at last he
begged for mercy, but I was deaf to all pity a great while, till he
roared out like a boy soundly whipped. Then I took his sword from him
and broke it before his face, and left him on the ground, giving him
two or three kicks on the backside, and bade him go and take the law
of me if he thought fit.

I had now as much satisfaction as indeed could be taken of a coward,
and had no more to say to him; but as I knew it would make a great
noise about the town, I immediately removed my family, and, that I
might be perfectly concealed, went into the north of England, and
lived in a little town called ----, not far from Lancaster, where I
lived retired, and was no more heard of for about two years. My wife,
though more confined than she used to be, and so kept up from the lewd
part which, I believe, in the intervals of her intemperance, she was
truly ashamed of and abhorred, yet retained the drinking part, which
becoming, as I have said, necessary for her subsistence, she soon
ruined her health, and in about a year and a half after my removal
into the north she died.

Thus I was once more a free man, and, as one would think, should by
this time have been fully satisfied that matrimony was not appointed
to be a state of felicity to me.

I should have mentioned that the villain of a captain who I had
drubbed, as above, pretended to make a great stir about my assaulting
him on the highway, and that I had fallen upon him with three
ruffians, with an intent to murder him; and this began to obtain
belief among the people in the neighbourhood. I sent him word of so
much of it as I had heard, and told him I hoped it did not come from
his own mouth; but if it did, I expected he would publicly disown it,
he himself declaring he knew it to be false, or else I should be
forced to act the same thing over again, till I had disciplined him
into better manners; and that he might be assured that if he continued
to pretend that I had anybody with me when I caned him, I would
publish the whole story in print, and, besides that, would cane him
again wherever I met him, and as often as I met him, till he thought
fit to defend himself with his sword like a gentleman.

He gave me no answer to this letter; and the satisfaction I had for
that was, that I gave twenty or thirty copies of it about among the
neighbours, which made it as public as if I had printed it (that
is, as to his acquaintance and mine), and made him so hissed at
and hated that he was obliged to remove into some other part of the
town--whither I did not inquire.

My wife being now dead, I knew not what course to take in the world,
and I grew so disconsolate and discouraged that I was next door to
being distempered, and sometimes, indeed, I thought myself a little
touched in my head. But it proved nothing but vapours and the vexation
of this affair, and in about a year's time, or thereabouts, it wore
off again.

I had rambled up and down in a most discontented, unsettled posture
after this, I say, about a year, and then I considered I had three
innocent children, and I could take no care of them, and that I must
either go away and leave them to the wide world or settle here and get
somebody to look after them, and that better a mother-in-law than no
mother; for to live such a wandering life it would not do; so I
resolved I would marry as anything offered, though it was mean, and
the meaner the better. I concluded my next wife should be only taken
as an upper servant; that is to say, a nurse to my children and
housekeeper to myself; "and let her be whore or honest woman," said I,
"as she likes best; I am resolved I will not much concern myself about
that;" for I was now one desperate, that valued not how things went.

In this careless, and indeed rash, foolish humour, I talked to myself
thus: "If I marry an honest woman, my children will be taken care of;
if she be a slut and abuses me, as I see everybody does, I will kidnap
her and send her to Virginia, to my plantations there, and there she
shall work hard enough and fare hard enough to keep her chaste, I'll
warrant her."

I knew well enough at first that these were mad, hare-brained notions,
and I thought no more of being serious in them than I thought of being
a man in the moon; but I know not how it happened to me, I reasoned
and talked to myself in this wild manner so long that I brought myself
to be seriously desperate; that is, to resolve upon another marriage,
with all the suppositions of unhappiness that could be imagined to
fall out.

And yet even this rash resolution of my senses did not come
presently to action; for I was half a year after this before I fixed
upon anything. At last, as he that seeks mischief shall certainly find
it, so it was with me. There happened to be a young, or rather a
middle-aged, woman in the next town, which was but a half-mile off,
who usually was at my house and among my children every day when the
weather was tolerable; and though she came but merely as a neighbour,
and to see us, yet she was always helpful in directing and ordering
things for them, and mighty handy about them, as well before my wife
died as after.

Her father was one that I employed often to go to Liverpool, and
sometimes to Whitehaven, and do business for me; for having, as it
were, settled myself in the northern parts of England, I had ordered
part of my effects to be shipped, as occasion of shipping offered, to
either of those two towns, to which, the war continuing very sharp, it
was safer coming, as to privateers, than about through the Channel to
London.

I took a mighty fancy at last that this girl would answer my end,
particularly that I saw she was mighty useful among the children; so,
on the other hand, the children loved her very well, and I resolved to
love her too, flattering myself mightily, that as I had married two
gentlewomen and one citizen, and they proved all three whores, I
should now find what I wanted in an innocent country wench.

I took up a world of time in considering of this matter; indeed scarce
any of my matches were done without very mature consideration. The
second was the worst in that article, but in this I thought of it, I
believe, four months most seriously before I resolved, and that very
prudence spoiled the whole thing. However, at last being resolved, I
took Mrs. Margaret one day as she passed by my parlour-door, called
her in, and told her I wanted to speak with her. She came readily in,
but blushed mightily when I bade her sit down in a chair just by me.

I used no great ceremony with her, but told her that I had observed
she had been mighty kind to my children, and was very tender to them,
and that they all loved her, and that, if she and I could agree about
it, I intended to make her their mother, if she was not engaged to
somebody else. The girl sat still and said never a word till I said
those words, "if she was not engaged to somebody else;" when she
seemed struck. However, I took no notice of it, other than this, "Look
ye, Moggy," said I (so they call them in the country), "if you have
promised yourself, you must tell me." For we all knew that a young
fellow, a good clergyman's wicked son, had hung about her a great
while, two or three years, and made love to her, but could never get
the girl in the mind, it seems, to have him.

She knew I was not ignorant of it, and therefore, after her first
surprise was over, she told me Mr. ---- had, as I knew, often come
after her, but she had never promised him anything, and had for
several years refused him; her father always telling her that he was a
wicked fellow, and that he would be her ruin if she had him.

"Well, Moggy, then," says I, "what dost say to me? Art thou free to
make me a wife?" She blushed and looked down upon the ground, and
would not speak a good while; but when I pressed her to tell me, she
looked up, and said she supposed I was but jesting with her. Well, I
got over that, and told her I was in very good earnest with her, and I
took her for a sober, honest, modest girl, and, as I said, one that my
children loved mighty well, and I was in earnest with her; if she
would give me her consent, I would give her my word that I would have
her, and we would be married to-morrow morning. She looked up again at
that, and smiled a little, and said no, that was too soon too to say
yes. She hoped I would give her some time to consider of it, and to
talk with her father about it.

I told her she needed not much time to consider about it; but,
however, I would give her till to-morrow morning, which was a great
while. By this time I had kissed Moggy two or three times, and she
began to be freer with me; and when I pressed her to marry me the next
morning, she laughed, and told me it was not lucky to be married in
her old clothes.

I stopped her mouth presently with that, and told her she should not
be married in her old clothes, for I would give her some new. "Ay, it
may be afterwards," says Moggy, and laughed again. "No, just now,"
says I. "Come along with me, Moggy;" so I carried her upstairs into my
wife's room that was, and showed her a new morning-gown of my wife's,
that she had never worn above two or three times, and several other
fine things. "Look you there, Moggy," says I, "there is a wedding-gown
for you; give me your hand now that you will have me to-morrow
morning. And as to your father, you know he has gone to Liverpool on
my business, but I will answer for it he shall not be angry when he
comes home to call his master son-in-law; and I ask him no portion.
Therefore give me thy hand for it, Moggy," says I very merrily to her,
and kissed her again; and the girl gave me her hand, and very
pleasantly too, and I was mightily pleased with it, I assure you.

There lived about three doors from us an ancient gentleman who passed
for a doctor of physic, but who was really a Romish priest in orders,
as there are many in that part of the country; and in the evening I
sent to speak with him. He knew that I understood his profession, and
that I had lived in popish countries, and, in a word, believed me a
Roman too, for I was such abroad. When he came to me I told him the
occasion for which I sent for him, and that it was to be to-morrow
morning. He readily told me, if I would come and see him in the
evening, and bring Moggy with me, he would marry us in his own study,
and that it was rather more private to do it in the evening than in
the morning. So I called Moggy again to me, and told her, since she
and I had agreed the matter for to-morrow, it was as well to be done
overnight, and told her what the doctor had said.

Moggy blushed again, and said she must go home first, that she could
not be ready before to-morrow. "Look ye, Moggy," says I, "you are my
wife now, and you shall never go away from me a maid. I know what you
mean; you would go home to shift you. Come, Moggy," says I, "come
along with me again upstairs." So I carried her to a chest of linen,
where were several new shifts of my last wife's, which she had never
worn at all, and some that had been worn.

"There is a clean smock for you, Moggy," says I, "and to-morrow you
shall have all the rest." When I had done this, "Now, Moggy," says I,
"go and dress you;" so I locked her in, and went downstairs. "Knock,"
says I, "when you are dressed."

After some time Moggy did not knock, but down she came into my room,
completely dressed, for there were several other things that I bade
her take, and the clothes fitted her as if they had been made for her.
It seems she slipped the lock back.

"Well, Moggy," says I, "now you see you shan't be married in your old
clothes;" so I took her in my arms and kissed her; and well pleased I
was as ever I was in my life, or with anything I ever did in my life.
As soon as it was dark Moggy slipped away beforehand, as the doctor
and I had agreed, to the old gentleman's housekeeper, and I came in
about half-an-hour after; and there we were married in the doctor's
study--that is to say, in his oratory or chapel, a little room within
his study--and we stayed and supped with him afterwards.

Then, after a short stay more, I went home first, because I would send
the children all to bed, and the other servants out of the way; and
Moggy came some time after, and so we lay together that night. The
next morning I let all the family know that Moggy was my wife, and my
three children were rejoiced at it to the last degree. And now I was a
married man a fourth time; and, in short, I was really more happy in
this plain country girl than with any of all the wives I had had. She
was not young, being about thirty-three, but she brought me a son the
first year. She was very pretty, well-shaped, and of a merry, cheerful
disposition, but not a beauty. She was an admirable family manager,
loved my former children, and used them not at all the worse for
having some of her own. In a word, she made me an excellent wife, but
lived with me but four years, and died of a hurt she got of a fall
while she was with child, and in her I had a very great loss indeed.

And yet such was my fate in wives, that, after all the blushing and
backwardness of Mrs. Moggy at first, Mrs. Moggy had, it seems, made a
slip in her younger days, and was got with child ten years before, by
a gentleman of a great estate in that country, who promised her
marriage, and afterwards deserted her. But as that had happened long
before I came into the country, and the child was dead and forgotten,
the people were so good to her, and so kind to me, that, hearing I had
married her, nobody ever spoke of it; neither did I ever hear of it or
suspect it till after she was in her grave, and then it was of small
consequence to me one way or other; and she was a faithful, virtuous,
obliging wife to me. I had very severe affliction indeed while she
lived with me; for the smallpox, a frightful distemper in that
country, broke into my family, and carried off three of my children
and a maid-servant; so that I had only one of my former wife's, and
one by my Moggy, the first a son, the last a daughter.

While these things were in agitation came on the invasion of the Scots
and the fight at Preston; and I have cause to bless the memory of my
Moggy; for I was all on fire on that side, and just going away with
horse and arms to join the Lord Derwentwater. But Moggy begged me off
(as I may call it), and hung about me so with her tears and
importunities that I sat still and looked on; for which I had reason
to be thankful.

I was really a sorrowful father, and the loss of my children stuck
close to me; but the loss of my wife stuck closer to me than all the
rest. Nor was my grief lessened or my kindest thoughts abated in the
least by the account I heard of her former miscarriages, seeing they
were so long before I knew her, and were not discovered by me or to me
in her lifetime.

All these things put together made me very comfortless. And now I
thought Heaven summoned me to retire to Virginia, the place, and, as I
may say, the only place, I had been blessed at, or had met with
anything that deserved the name of success in, and where, indeed, my
affairs being in good hands, the plantations were increased to such a
degree that some years my return here made up eight hundred pounds,
and one year almost a thousand. So I resolved to leave my native
country once more, and taking my son with me, and leaving Moggy's
daughter with her grandfather, I made him my principal agent, left him
considerable in his hands for the maintenance of the child, and left
my will in his hand, by which, if I died before I should otherwise
provide for her, I left her £2000 portion, to be paid by my son out of
the estate I had in Virginia, and the whole estate, if he died
unmarried.

I embarked for Virginia in the year ----, at the town of Liverpool,
and had a tolerable voyage thither, only that we met with a pirate
ship, in the latitude of 48 degrees, who plundered us of every thing
they could come at that was for their turn; that is to say,
provisions, ammunition, small-arms, and money. But, to give the rogues
their due, though they were the most abandoned wretches that were ever
seen, they did not use us ill. And as to my loss, it was not
considerable; the cargo which I had on board was in goods, and was of
no use to them; nor could they come at those things without rummaging
the whole ship, which they did not think worth their while.

I found all my affairs in very good order at Virginia, my plantations
prodigiously increased, and my manager, who first inspired me with
travelling thoughts, and made me master of any knowledge worth naming,
received me with a transport of joy, after a ramble of four-and-twenty
years.

I ought to remember it, to the encouragement of all faithful servants,
that he gave me an account, which, I believe, was critically just, of
the whole affairs of the plantations, each by themselves, and balanced
in years, every year's produce being fully transmitted, charges
deducted, to my order at London.

I was exceedingly satisfied, as I had good reason indeed, with his
management; and with his management, as much in its degree, of his own
I can safely say it. He had improved a very large plantation of his
own at the same time, which he began upon the foot of the country's
allowance of land and the encouragement he had from me.

When he had given me all this pleasing, agreeable account, you will
not think it strange that I had a desire to see the plantations, and
to view all the servants, which, in both the works, were upwards of
three hundred; and as my tutor generally bought some every fleet that
came from England, I had the mortification to see two or three of the
Preston gentlemen there, who, being prisoners of war, were spared from
the public execution, and sent over to that slavery, which to
gentlemen must be worse than death.

I do not mention what I did or said relating to them here. I shall
speak at large of it when the rest of them came over, which more
nearly concerned me.

But one circumstance occurred to me here that equally surprised me and
terrified me to the last degree. Looking over all the servants, as I
say above, and viewing the plantations narrowly and frequently, I came
one day by a place where some women were at work by themselves. I was
seriously reflecting on the misery of human life, when I saw some of
those poor wretches. Thought I, "They have perhaps lived gay and
pleasantly in the world, notwithstanding, through a variety of
distresses, they may have been brought to this; and if a body was to
hear the history of some of them now, it would perhaps be as moving
and as seasonable a sermon as any minister in the country could
preach."

While I was musing thus and looking at the women, on a sudden I heard
a combustion among other of the women-servants, who were almost behind
me, in the same work, and help was called loudly for, one of the women
having swooned away. They said she would die immediately if something
was not done to relieve her. I had nothing about me but a little
bottle, which we always carried about us there with rum, to give any
servant a dram that merited that favour; so I turned my horse and went
up towards the place. But as the poor creature was lying flat on the
ground, and the rest of the women-servants about her, I did not see
her, but gave them the bottle, and they rubbed her temples with it,
and, with much ado, brought her to life, and gave her a little to
drink. But she could drink none of it, and was exceeding ill
afterwards, so that she was carried to the infirmary--so they call it
in the religious houses in Italy where the sick nuns and friars are
carried; but here, in Virginia, I think they should call it the
condemned hole, for it really was only a place just fit for people to
die in, not a place to be cured in.

The sick woman refusing to drink, one of the women-servants brought me
the bottle again, and I bade them drink it among them, which had
almost set them together by the ears for the liquor, there being not
enough to give every one a sup.

I went home to my house immediately, and reflecting on the miserable
provision was wont to be made for poor servants when they were sick, I
inquired of my manager if it was so still. He said he believed mine
was better than any in the country; but he confessed it was but sad
lodging. However, he said he would go and look after it immediately
and see how it was.

He came to me again about an hour after, and told me the woman was
very ill, and frighted with her condition; that she seemed to be very
penitent for some things in her past life, which lay heavy upon her
mind, believing she should die; that she asked him if there was no
minister to comfort poor dying servants; and he told her that she knew
they had no minister nearer than such a place, but that, if she lived
till morning, he should be sent for. He told me, also, that he had
removed her into a room where their chief workman used to lodge; that
he had given her a pair of sheets, and everything he could that he
thought she wanted, and had appointed another woman-servant to tend
her and sit up with her.

"Well," says I, "that's well; for I cannot bear to have poor creatures
lie and perish, by the mere hardship of the place they are in, when
they are sick and want help. Besides," said I, "some of those
unfortunate creatures they call convicts may be peopie that have been
tenderly brought up." "Really, sir," says he, "this poor creature, I
always said, had something of a gentlewoman in her. I could see it by
her behaviour, and I have heard the other women say that she lived
very great once, and that she had fifteen hundred pound to her
portion; and I dare say she has been a handsome woman in her time, and
she has a hand as fine as a lady's now, though it be tanned with the
weather. I dare say she was never brought up to labour as she does
here, and she says to the rest that it will kill her."

"Truly," says I, "it may be so, and that may be the reason that she
faints under it;" and I added, "Is there nothing you can put her to
within doors that may not be so laborious and expose her to so much
heat and cold?" He told me yes, there was. He could set her to be the
housekeeper, for the woman that lately was such was out of her time,
and was married and turned planter. "Why, then, let her have it," said
I, "if she recovers; and in the meantime go," said I, "and tell her
so; perhaps the comfort of it may help to restore her."

He did so, and with that, taking good care of her, and giving her good
warm diet, the woman recovered, and in a little time was abroad again;
for it was the mere weight of labour, and being exposed to hard
lodging and mean diet, to one so tenderly bred, that struck her and
she fainted at her work.

When she was made housekeeper she was quite another body. She put all
the household into such excellent order, and managed their provisions
so well, that my tutor admired her conduct, and would be every now and
then speaking of her to me, that she was an excellent manager. "I'll
warrant," says he, "she has been bred a gentlewoman, and she has been
a fine woman in her time too." In a word, he said so many good things
of her that I had a mind to see her. So one day I took occasion to go
to the plantation-house, as they called it, and into a parlour always
reserved for the master of the plantation. There she had opportunity
to see me before I could see her, and as soon as she had seen me she
knew me; but indeed had I seen her an hundred times I should not have
known her. She was, it seems, in the greatest confusion and surprise
at seeing who I was that it was possible for any one to be; and when I
ordered my manager to bring her into the room, he found her crying,
and begged him to excuse her, that she was frighted, and should die
away if she came near me.

I, not imagining anything but that the poor creature was afraid of me
(for masters in Virginia are terrible things), bade him tell her she
need to be under no concern at my calling for her; for it was not for
any hurt nor for any displeasure, but that I had some orders to give
her. So, having, as he thought, encouraged her, though her surprise
was of another kind, he brought her in. When she came in she held a
handkerchief in her hand, wiping her eyes, as if she had cried. "Mrs.
Housekeeper," said I, speaking cheerfully to her, "don't be concerned
at my sending for you; I have had a very good account of your
management, and I called for you to let you know I am very well
pleased with it; and if it falls in my way to do you any good, if your
circumstances will allow it, I may be willing enough to help you out
of your misery."

She made low courtesies, but said nothing. However, she was so far
encouraged that she took her hand from her face, and I saw her face
fully; and I believe she did it desiring I should discover who she
was; but I really knew nothing of her, any more than if I had never
seen her in my life, but went on, as I thought, to encourage her, as I
used to do with any that I saw deserved it.

In the meantime my tutor, who was in the room, went out on some
business or other--I know not what. As soon as he was gone she burst
out into a passion, and fell down on her knees just before me: "Oh,
sir!" says she, "I see you don't know me. Be merciful to me; I am your
miserable divorced wife!"

I was astonished; I was frighted; I trembled like one in an ague; I
was speechless; in a word, I was ready to sink, and she fell flat on
her face, and lay there as if she had been dead. I was speechless, I
say, as a stone. I had only presence of mind enough to step to the
door and fasten it, that my tutor might not come in; then, going back
to her, I took her up and spoke comfortably to her, and told her I no
more knew her than if I had never seen her.

"Oh, sir!" said she, "afflictions are dreadful things; such as I have
suffered have been enough to alter my countenance; but forgive," said
she, "for God's sake, the injuries I have done you. I have paid dear
for all my wickedness, and it is just, it is righteous, that God
should bring me to your foot, to ask your pardon for all my brutish
doings. Forgive me, sir," said she, "I beseech you, and let me be your
slave or servant for it as long as I live; it is all I ask;" and with
those words she fell upon her knees again and cried so vehemently that
it was impossible for her to stop it or to speak a word more. I took
her up again, made her sit down, desired her to compose herself, and
to hear what I was going to say; though indeed it touched me so
sensibly that I was hardly able to speak any more than she was.

First, I told her it was such a surprise to me that I was not able to
say much to her; and indeed the tears run down my face almost as fast
as they did on hers. I told her that I should only tell her now, that,
as nobody had yet known anything that had passed, so it was absolutely
necessary not a word of it should be known; that it should not be the
worse for her that she was thus thrown in my hands again; but that I
could do nothing for her if it was known, and, therefore, that her
future good or ill fortune would depend upon her entire concealing it;
that, as my manager would come in again presently, she should go back
to her part of the house, and go on in the business as she did before;
that I would come to her and talk more at large with her in a day or
two. So she retired, after assuring me that not a word of it should go
out of her mouth; and indeed she was willing to retire before my tutor
came again, that he might not see the agony she was in.

I was so perplexed about this surprising incident that I hardly knew
what I did or said all that night; nor was I come to any settled
resolution in the morning what course to take in it. However, in the
morning I called my tutor, and told him that I had been exceedingly
concerned about the poor distressed creature, the housekeeper; that I
had heard some of her story, which was very dismal; that she had been
in very good circumstances and was bred very well, and that I was glad
he had removed her out of the field into the house; but still she was
almost naked, and that I would have him go down to the warehouse and
give her some linen, especially head-clothes, and all sorts of small
things such as hoods, gloves, stockings, shoes, petticoats, &c., and
to let her choose for herself; also a morning-gown of calico, and a
mantua of a better kind of calico; that is to say, new clothe her;
which he did, but brought me word that he found her all in tears, and
that she had cried all night long, and, in short, he believed she
would indeed cry herself to death; that all the while she was
receiving the things he gave her she cried; that now and then she
would struggle with and stop it, but that then, upon another word
speaking, she would burst out again, so that it grieved everybody that
saw her.

I was really affected with her case very much, but struggled hard with
myself to hide it, and turned the discourse to something else. In the
meantime, though I did not go to her the next day, nor till the third
day, yet I studied day and night how to act, and what I should do in
this remarkable case.

When I came to the house, which was the third day, she came into the
room I was in, clothed all over with my things which I had ordered
her, and told me she thanked God she was now my servant again and wore
my livery, thanked me for the clothes I had sent her, and said it was
much more than she had deserved from me.

I then entered into discourses with her, nobody being present but
ourselves; and first I told her she should name no more of the unkind
things that had passed, for she had humbled herself more than enough
on that subject, and I would never reproach her with anything that was
past. I found that she had been the deepest sufferer by far. I told
her it was impossible for me, in my present circumstances, to receive
her there as a wife who came over as a convict, neither did she know
so little as to desire it; but I told her I might be instrumental to
put an end to her misfortunes in the world, and especially to the
miserable part of it which was her present load, provided she could
effectually keep her own counsel and never let the particulars come
out of her mouth, and that from the day she did she might date her
irrevocable ruin.

She was as sensible of the necessity of that part as I was, and told
me all she could claim of me would be only to deliver her from her
present calamity that she was not able to support; and that then, if I
pleased, she might live such a life as that she might apply the
residue of what time she should have wholly to repentance; that she
was willing to do the meanest offices in the world for me; and though
she should rejoice to hear that I would forgive her former life, yet
that she would not look any higher than to be my servant as long as
she lived; and, in the meantime, I might be satisfied she would never
let any creature so much as know that I had ever seen her before.

I asked her if she was willing to let me into any part of the history
of her life since she and I parted; but I did not insist upon it
otherwise than as she thought convenient. She said, as her breach with
me began first in folly and ended in sin, so her whole life afterwards
was a continued series of calamity, sin and sorrow, sin and shame, and
at last misery; that she was deluded into gay company and to an
expensive way of living which betrayed her to several wicked courses
to support the expenses of it; that after a thousand distresses and
difficulties, being not able to maintain herself, she was reduced to
extreme poverty; that she would many times have humbled herself to me
in the lowest and most submissive manner in the world, being sincerely
penitent for her first crime, but that she could never hear of me, nor
which way I was gone; that she was by that means so abandoned that she
wanted bread, and those wants and distresses brought her into bad
company of another kind, and that she fell in among a gang of thieves,
with whom she herded for some time, and got money enough a great
while, but under the greatest dread and terror imaginable, being in
the constant fear of coming to shame; that afterwards what she feared
was come upon her, and for a very trifling attempt in which she was
not principal, but accidentally concerned, she was sent to this place.
She told me her life was such a collection of various fortunes--up and
down, in plenty and in misery, in prison and at liberty, at ease and
in torment--that it would take up a great many days to give me a
history of it; that I was come to see the end of it, as I had seen the
best part of the beginning; that I knew she was brought up tenderly
and fared delicately; but that now she was, with the prodigal, brought
to desire husks with swine, and even to want that supply. Her tears
flowed so strongly upon this discourse that they frequently
interrupted her, so that she could not go on without difficulty, and
at last could not go on at all. So I told her I would excuse her
telling any more of her story at that time; that I saw it was but a
renewing of her grief, and that I would rather contribute to her
forgetting what was past, and desired her to say no more of it; so I
broke off that part.

In the meantime I told her, since Providence had thus cast her upon my
hands again, I would take care that she should not want, and that she
should not live hardly neither, though I could go no further at
present; and thus we parted for that time, and she continued in the
business of housekeeper; only that, to ease her, I gave her an
assistant; and, though I would not have it called so, it was neither
more or less than a servant to wait on her and do everything for her;
and told her, too, that it was so.

After she had been some time in this place she recovered her spirits
and grew cheerful; her fallen flesh plumped up, and the sunk and
hollow parts filled again, so that she began to recover something of
that brightness and charming countenance which was once so very
agreeable to me; and sometimes I could not help having warm desires
towards her, and of taking her into her first station again; but there
were many difficulties occurred which I could not get over a great
while.

But in the meantime another odd accident happened which put me to a
very great difficulty, and more than I could have thought such a thing
could be capable of. My tutor, a man of wit and learning, and full of
generous principles, who was at first moved with compassion for the
misery of this gentlewoman, and, even then, thought there were some
things more than common in her, as I have hinted; now when, as I say,
she was recovered, and her sprightly temper restored and comforted, he
was charmed so with her conversation that, in short, he fell in love
with her.

I hinted in my former account of her that she had a charming tongue,
was mistress of abundance of wit, that she sung incomparably fine, and
was perfectly well-bred. These all remained witli her still, and made
her a very agreeable person; and, in short, he came to me one evening
and told me that he came to ask my leave to let him marry the
housekeeper.

I was exceedingly perplexed at this proposal, but, however, I gave him
no room to perceive that. I told him I hoped he had considered well of
it before he brought it so far as to offer it to me, and supposed that
he had agreed that point so that I had no consent to give, but as she
had almost four years of her time to serve.

He answered no; he paid such a regard to me that he would not so much
as take one step in such a thing without my knowledge, and assured me
he had not so much as mentioned it to her. I knew not what answer
indeed to make to him, but at last I resolved to put it off from
myself to her, because then I should have opportunity to talk with her
beforehand. So I told him he was perfectly free to act in the matter
as he thought fit; that I could not say either one thing or another to
it, neither had I any right to meddle in it. As to her serving out her
time with me, that was a trifle, and not worth naming, but I hoped he
would consider well every circumstance before he entered upon such an
affair as that.

He told me he had fully considered it already, and that he was
resolved, seeing I was not against it, to have her whatever came of
it, for he believed he should be the happiest man alive with her. Then
he ran on in his character of her, how clever a woman she was in the
management of all manner of business, how admirable conversation she
was, what a wit, what a memory, what a vast share of knowledge, and
the like; all which I knew to be the truth, and yet short of her just
character too; for, as she was all that formerly when she was mine,
she was vastly improved in the school of affliction, and was all the
bright part, with a vast addition of temper, prudence, judgment, and
all that she formerly wanted.

I had not much patience, as you may well imagine, till I saw my honest
housekeeper, to communicate this secret to her, and to see what course
she would steer on so nice an occasion. But I was suddenly taken so
ill with a cold which held for two days that I could not stir out of
doors; and in this time the matter was all done and over; for my tutor
had gone the same night and made his attack; but was coldly received
at first, which very much surprised him, for he made no doubt to have
her consent at first word. However, the next day he came again, and
again the third day, when, finding he was in earnest, and yet that she
could not think of anything of that kind, she told him, in few words,
that she thought herself greatly obliged to him for such a testimony
of his respect to her, and should have embraced it willingly, as
anybody would suppose one in her circumstances should do, but that she
would not abuse him so much, for that she must acknowledge to him she
was under obligations that prevented her; that was, in short, that she
was a married woman and had a husband alive.

This was so sincere but so effectual an answer that he could have no
room to reply one word to it, but that he was very sorry, and that it
was a very great affliction to him, and as great a disappointment as
ever he met with.

The next day after he had received this repulse I came to the
plantation-house, and, sending for the housekeeper, I began with her,
and told her that I understood she would have a very advantageous
proposal made to her, and that I would have her consider well of it,
and then told her what my tutor had said to me.

She immediately fell a-crying, at which I seemed to wonder very much.
"Oh, sir!" says she, "how can you name such a thing to me?" I told her
that I could name it the better to her because I had been married
myself since I parted from her. "Yes, sir," says she; "but the case
alters; the crime being on my side, I ought not to marry; but," says
she, "that is not the reason at all, but I cannot do it." I pretended
to press her to it, though not sincerely, I must acknowledge, for my
heart had turned toward her for some time, and I had fully forgiven
her in my mind all her former conduct; but, I say, I seemed to press
her to it, at which she burst out in a passion. "No, no," says she;
"let me be your slave rather than the best man's wife in the world." I
reasoned with her upon her circumstances, and how such a marriage
would restore her to a state of ease and plenty, and none in the world
might ever know or suspect who or what she had been. But she could not
bear it; but, with tears, again raising her voice that I was afraid
she would be heard, "I beseech you," says she, "do not speak of it any
more. I was once yours, and I will never belong to any man else in the
world. Let me be as I am, or anything else you please to make me, but
not a wife to any man alive but yourself."

I was so moved with the passion she was in at speaking this that I
knew not what I said or did for some time. At length I said to her,
"It is a great pity you had not long ago been as sincere as you are
now; it had been better for us both. However, as it is, you shall not
be forced to anything against your mind, nor shall you be the worse
treated for refusing; but how will you put him off? No doubt he
expects you will receive his proposal as an advantage; and as he sees
no farther into your circumstances, so it is." "Oh, sir!" says she, "I
have done all that already. He has his answer, and is fully satisfied.
He will never trouble you any more on that head;" and then she told me
what answer she had given him.

From that minute I resolved that I would certainly take her again to
be my wife as before. I thought she had fully made me amends for her
former ill conduct, and she deserved to be forgiven (and so indeed she
did, if ever woman did, considering also what dreadful penance she had
undergone, and how long she had lived in misery and distress); and
that Providence had, as it were, cast her upon me again, and, above
all, had given her such an affection to me and so resolved a mind that
she could refuse so handsome an offer of deliverance rather than be
farther separated from me.

As I resolved this in my mind, so I thought it was cruel to conceal it
any longer from her. Nor, in deed, could I contain myself any longer,
but I took her in my arms: "Well," says I, "you have given me such a
testimony of affection in this that I can no longer withstand. I
forgive you all that ever was between us on this account, and, since
you will be nobody's but mine, you shall be mine again as you were at
first."

But this was too much for her the other way, and now she was so far
overcome with my yielding to her that, had she not got vent to her
passion by the most vehement crying, she must have died in my arms;
and I was forced to let her go and set her down in a chair, where she
cried for a quarter of an hour before she could speak a word.

When she was come to herself enough to talk again, I told her we must
consider of a method how to bring this to pass, and that it must not
be done by publishing there that she was my wife before, for that
would expose us both, but that I would openly marry her again. This
she agreed was very rational, and accordingly, about two months after,
we were married again, and no man in the world ever enjoyed a better
wife or lived more happy than we both did for several years after.

And now I began to think my fortunes were settled for this world, and
I had nothing before me but to finish a life of infinite variety, such
as mine had been, with a comfortable retreat, being both made wiser by
our sufferings and difficulties, and able to judge for ourselves what
kind of life would be best adapted to our present circumstances, and
in what station we might look upon ourselves to be most completely
happy.

But man is a short-sighted creature at best, and in nothing more than
in that of fixing his own felicity, or, as we may say, choosing for
himself. One would have thought, and so my wife often suggested to me,
that the state of life that I was now in was as perfectly calculated
to make a man completely happy as any private station in the world
could be. We had an estate more than sufficient, and daily increasing,
for the supporting any state or figure that in that place we could
propose to ourselves or even desire to live in; we had everything that
was pleasant and agreeable, without the least mortification in any
circumstances of it; every sweet thing, and nothing to embitter it;
every good, and no mixture of evil with it; nor any gap open where we
could have the least apprehensions of any evil breaking out upon us.
Nor indeed was it easy for either of us, in our phlegmatic, melancholy
notions, to have the least imagination how anything disastrous could
happen to us in the common course of things, unless something should
befall us out of the ordinary way of Providence, or of its acting in
the world.

But, an unseen mine blew up all this apparent tranquillity at once;
and though it did not remove my affairs there from me, yet it
effectually removed me from them and sent me a-wandering into the
world again--a condition full of hazards, and always attended with
circumstances dangerous to mankind, while he is left to choose his own
fortunes and be guided by his own short-sighted measures.

I must now return to a circumstance of my history which had been past
for some time, and which relates to my conduct while I was last in
England.

I mentioned how my faithful wife Moggy, with her tears and her
entreaties, had prevailed with me not to play the madman and openly
join in the rebellion with the late Lord Derwentwater and his party
when they entered Lancashire, and thereby, as I may say, saved my
life. But my curiosity prevailed so much at last that I gave her the
slip when they came to Preston, and at least thought I would go and
look at them, and see what they were likely to come to.

My former wife's importunities, as above, had indeed prevailed upon me
from publicly embarking in that enterprise and joining openly with
them in arms; and by this, as I have observed, she saved my life to be
sure, because I had then publicly espoused the rebellion, and had been
known to have been among them, which might have been as fatal to me
afterwards, though I had not been taken in the action, as if I had.

But when they advanced and came nearer to us to Preston, and there
appeared a greater spirit among the people in their favour, my old
doctor, whom I mentioned before, who was a Romish priest, and had
married us, inspired me with new zeal, and gave me no rest till he
obliged me, with only a good horse and arms, to join them the day
before they entered Preston, he himself venturing in the same posture
with me.

I was not so public here as to be very well known, at least by any one
that had knowledge of me in the country where I lived; and this was
indeed my safety afterwards, as you will soon hear. But yet I was
known too among the men, especially among the Scots, with some of whom
I had been acquainted in foreign service. With these I was
particularly conversant, and, passing for a French officer, I talked
to them of making a select detachment to defend the pass between
Preston and the river and bridge, upon maintaining which, as I
insisted, depended the safety of the whole party.

It was with some warmth that I spoke of that affair, and as I passed
among them, I say, for a French officer and a man of experience, it
caused several debates among them. But the hint was not followed, as
is well known, and from that moment I gave them all up as lost, and
meditated nothing but how to escape from them, which I effected the
night before they were surrounded by the royal cavalry. I did not do
this without great difficulty, swimming the river Ribble at a place
where, though I got well over, yet I could not for a long while get to
a place where my horse could land himself--that is to say, where the
ground was firm enough for him to take the land. However, at length I
got on shore, and riding very hard, came the next evening in sight of
my own dwelling. Here, after lying by in a wood till the depth of
night, I shot my horse in a little kind of a gravel pit, or marl pit,
where I soon covered him with earth for the present, and marching all
alone, I came about two in the morning to my house, where my wife,
surprised with joy and yet terribly frighted, let me in; and then I
took immediate measures to secure myself upon whatever incident might
happen, but which, as things were ordered, I had no need to make use
of, for the rebels being entirely defeated, and either all killed or
taken prisoners, I was not known by anybody in the country to have
been among them; no, nor so much as suspected. And thus I made a
narrow escape from the most dangerous action, and most foolishly
embarked in, of any that I had ever been engaged in before.

It was very lucky to me that I killed and buried my horse, for he
would have been taken two days after, and would, to be sure, have been
known by those who had seen me upon him at Preston. But now, as none
knew I had been abroad, nor any such circumstance could discover me, I
kept close, and as my excursion had been short and I had not been
missed by any of my neighbours, if anybody came to speak with me,
behold I was at home.

However, I was not thoroughly easy in my mind, and secretly wished I
was in my own dominions in Virginia, to which, in a little time, other
circumstances occurring, I made preparations to remove with my whole
family.

In the meantime, as above, the action at Preston happened, and the
miserable people surrendered to the king's troops. Some were executed
for examples, as in such cases is usual, and the government extending
mercy to the multitude, they were kept in Chester Castle, and other
places a considerable time, till they were disposed of, some one way,
some another, as we shall hear.

Several hundreds of them after this were, at their own request,
transported, as it is vulgarly expressed, to the plantations--that is
to say, sent to Virginia and other British colonies to be sold after
the usual manner of condemned criminals, or, as we call them there,
convicts, to serve a limited time in the country, and then be made
freemen again. Some of these I have spoken of above; but now, to my no
little uneasiness, I found, after I had been there some time, two
ships arrived with more of these people in the same river where all my
plantations lay.

I no sooner heard of it but the first step I took was to resolve to
let none of them be bought into my work or to any of my plantations;
and this I did, pretending that I would not make slaves every day of
unfortunate gentlemen who fell into that condition for their zeal to
their party only, and the like. But the true reason was, that I
expected several of them would know me, and might perhaps betray me,
and make it public that I was one of the same sort, but had made my
escape; and so I might be brought into trouble, and, if I came off
with my life, might have all my effects seized on, and be reduced to
misery and poverty again at once, all which I thought I had done
enough to deserve.

This was a just caution, but, as I found quickly, was not a sufficient
one, as my circumstances stood, for my safety; for though I bought
none of these poor men myself, yet several of my neighbours did, and
there was scarce a plantation near me but had some of them, more or
less, among them; so that, in a word, I could not peep abroad hardly
but I was in danger to be seen, and known too, by some or other of
them.

I may be allowed to say that this was a very uneasy life to me, and
such that, in short, I found myself utterly unable to bear; for I was
now reduced from a great man, a magistrate, a governor or master of
three great plantations, and having three or four hundred servants at
my command, to be a poor self-condemned rebel, and durst not show my
face; and that I might with the same safety, or rather more, have
skulked about in Lancashire where I was, or gone up to London and
concealed myself there till things had been over. But now the danger
was come home to me, even to my door, and I expected nothing but to be
informed against every day, be taken up, and sent to England in irons,
and have all my plantations seized on as a forfeited estate to the
Crown.

I had but one hope of safety to trust to, and that was, that having
been so little a while among them, done nothing for them, and passing
for a stranger, they never knew my name, but only I was called the
French colonel, or the French officer, or the French gentleman by
most, if not by all, the people here. And as for the doctor that went
with me, he had found means to escape too, though not the same way
that I did, finding the cause not likely to be supported, and that the
king's troops were gathering on all sides round them like a cloud.

But to return to myself; this was no satisfaction to me, and what to
do I really knew not, for I was more at a loss how to shift in such a
distressed case as this, now it lay so close to me, than ever I was in
any difficulty in my life. The first thing I did was to come home and
make a confidence of the whole affair to my wife; and though I did it
generously without conditions, yet I did not do it without first
telling her how I was now going to put my life into her hands, that
she might have it in her power to pay me home for all that she might
think had been hard in my former usage of her; and that, in short, it
would be in her power to deliver me up into the hands of my enemies,
but that I would trust her generosity, as well as her renewed
affection, and put all upon her fidelity, and without any more
precaution I opened the whole thing to her, and particularly the
danger I was now in.

A faithful counsellor is life from the dead, gives courage where the
heart is sinking, and raises the mind to a proper use of means; and
such she was to me indeed upon every step of this affair, and it was
by her direction that I took every step that followed for the
extricating myself out of this labyrinth.

"Come, come, my dear," says she, "if this be all, there is no room for
any such disconsolate doings as your fears run you upon;" for I was
immediately for selling off my plantations and all my stock and
embarking myself forthwith, and to get to Madeira or to any place out
of the king's dominions.

But my wife was quite of another opinion, and encouraging me on
another account, proposed two things, either my freighting a sloop
with provisions to the West Indies, and so taking passage from thence
to London, or letting her go away directly for England and endeavour
to obtain the king's pardon, whatever it might cost.

I inclined to the last proposal; for though I was unhappily prejudiced
in favour of a wrong interest, yet I had always a secret and right
notion of the clemency and merciful disposition of his Majesty, and,
had I been in England, should, I believe, have been easily persuaded
to have thrown myself at his foot.

But going to England as I was circumstanced must have been a public
action, and I must have made all the usual preparations for it, must
have appeared in public, have stayed till the crop was ready, and gone
away in form and state as usual, or have acted as if something
extraordinary was the matter, and have filled the heads of the people
there with innumerable suggestions of they knew not what.

But my wife made all this easy to me from her own invention; for,
without acquainting me of any thing, she comes merrily to me one
morning before I was up: "My dear," says she, "I am very sorry to hear
that you are not very well this morning. I have ordered Pennico" (that
was a young negro girl which I had given her) "to make you a fire in
your chamber, and pray lie still where you are a while till it is
done." At the same instant the little negro came in with wood and a
pair of bellows, &c., to kindle the fire, and my wife, not giving me
time to reply, whispers close to my ear to lie still and say nothing
till she came up again to me.

I was thoroughly frighted, that you may be sure of, and thought of
nothing but of being discovered, betrayed, and carried to England,
hanged, quartered, and all that was terrible, and my very heart sunk
within me. She perceived my disorder and turned back, assuring me
there was no harm, desired me to be easy, and she would come back
again presently and give me satisfaction in every particular that I
could desire. So I composed myself a while as well as I could, but it
was but a little while that I could bear it, and I sent Pennico
downstairs to find out her mistress, and tell her I was very ill and
must speak with her immediately; and the girl was scarce out of the
room before I jumped out of bed and began to dress me, that I might be
ready for all events.

My wife was as good as her word, and was coming up as the girl was
coming down. "I see," says she, "you want patience, but pray do not
want government of yourself, but take that screen before your face,
and go to the window and see if you know any of those Scotchmen that
are in the yard, for there are seven or eight of them come about some
business to your clerk."

I went and looked through the screen, and saw the faces of them all
distinctly, but could make nothing of them other than that they were
Scotchmen, which was easy to discern. However, it was no satisfaction
to me that I knew not their faces, for they might know mine for all
that, according to the old English proverb, "That more knows Tom Fool
than Tom Fool knows;" so I kept close in my chamber till I understood
they were all gone.

After this my wife caused it to be given out in the house that I was
not well; and when this not being well had lasted three or four days,
I had my leg wrapped up in a great piece of flannel and laid upon a
stool, and there I was lame of the gout; and this served for about six
weeks, when my wife told me she had given it out that my gout was
rather rheumatic than a settled gout, and that I was resolved to take
one of my own sloops and go away to Nevis or Antigua, and use the hot
baths there for my cure.

All this was very well, and I approved my wife's contrivance as
admirably good, both to keep me within doors eight or ten weeks at
first, and to convey me away afterwards without any extraordinary
bustle to be made about it; but still I did not know what it all
tended to, and what the design of it all was. But my wife desired me
to leave that to her; so I readily did, and she carried it all on with
a prudence not to be disputed; and after she had wrapped my legs in
flannel almost three months, she came and told me the sloop was ready
and all the goods put on board. "And now, my dear," says she, "I come
to tell you all the rest of my design; for," added she, "I hope you
will not think I am going to kidnap you, and transport you from
Virginia, as other people are transported to it, or that I am going to
get you sent away and leave myself in possession of your estate; but
you shall find me the same faithful, humble creature which I should
have been if I had been still your slave, and not had any hopes of
being your wife, and that in all my scheme which I have laid for your
safety, in this new exigence, I have not proposed your going one step
but where I shall go and be always with you, to assist and serve you
on all occasions, and to take my portion with you, of what kind soever
our lot may be."

This was so generous, and so handsome a declaration of her fidelity,
and so great a token, too, of the goodness of her judgment in
considering of the things which were before her, and of what my
present circumstances called for, that, from that time forward, I gave
myself cheerfully up to her management without any hesitation in the
least, and after about ten days' preparation we embarked in a large
sloop of my own of about sixty tons.

I should have mentioned here that I had still my faithful tutor, as I
called him, at the head of my affairs; and, as he knew who to
correspond with, and how to manage the correspondence in England, we
left all that part to him, as I had done before; and I did this with a
full satisfaction in his ability as well as in his integrity. It is
true he had been a little chagrined in that affair of my wife, who, as
I hinted before, had married me, after telling him, in answer to his
solicitations, that she had a husband alive. Now, though this was
literally true, yet, as it was a secret not fit to be opened to him, I
was obliged to put him off with other reasons, as well as I could,
perhaps not much to the purpose, and perhaps not much to his
satisfaction, so that I reckoned he looked on himself as not very
kindly used several ways. But he began to get over it, and to be easy,
especially at our going away, when he found that the trust of
everything was still left in his hands as it was before.

When my wife had thus communicated everything of the voyage to me, and
we began to be ready to go off, she came to me one morning, and, with
her usual cheerfulness, told me she now came to tell me the rest of
her measures for the completing my deliverance; and this was, that
while we made this trip, as she called it, to the hot springs at
Nevis, she would write to a particular friend at London, whom she
could depend upon, to try to get a pardon for a person on account of
the late rebellion, with all the circumstances which my case was
attended with, viz., of having acted nothing among them but being
three days in the place; and, while we were thus absent, she did not
question but to have an answer, which she would direct to come so many
ways that we would be sure to have the first of it as soon as it was
possible the vessels could go and come. And in the meantime the
expense should be very small, for she would have an answer to the
grand question first, whether it could be obtained or no; and then an
account of the expense of it, that so I might judge for myself whether
I would part with the needful sum or no, before any money was
disbursed on my account.

I could not but be thoroughly satisfied with her contrivance in this
particular, and I had nothing to add to it but that I would not have
her limit her friend so strictly, but that if he saw the way clear,
and that he was sure to obtain it, he should go through stitch with
it, if within the expense of two or three or four hundred pounds, and
that, upon advice of its being practicable, he should have bills
payable by such a person on delivery of the warrant for the thing.

To fortify this, I enclosed in her packet a letter to one of my
correspondents, whom I could particularly trust, with a credit for the
money, on such-an-such conditions; but the honesty and integrity of my
wife's correspondence was such as prevented all the expense, and yet I
had the wished-for security, as if it had been all paid, as you shall
hear presently.

All these things being fixed to our minds, and all things left behind
in good posture of settlement as usual, we embarked together and put
to sea, having the opportunity of an English man-of-war being on the
coast in pursuit of the pirates, and who was just then standing away
towards the Gulf of Florida, and told us he would see us safe as far
as New Providence, on the Bahama Islands.

And now having fair weather and a pleasant voyage, and my flannels
taken off my legs, I must hint a little what cargo I had with me; for
as my circumstances were very good in that country, so I did not go
such a voyage as this, and with a particular reserve of fortunes
whatever might afterwards happen, without a sufficient cargo for our
support, and whatever exigence might happen.

Our sloop, as I said, was of about sixty or seventy tons; and as
tobacco, which is the general produce of the country, was no
merchandise at Nevis, that is to say, for a great quantity, so we
carried very little, but loaded the sloop with corn, peas, meal, and
some barrels of pork; and an excellent cargo it was, most of it being
the produce of my own plantation. We took also a considerable sum of
money with us in Spanish gold, which was, as above, not for trade, but
for all events. I also ordered another sloop to be hired, and to be
sent after me, loaden with the same goods, as soon as they should have
advice from me that I was safe arrived.

We came to the latitude of the island of Antigua, which was very near
to that of Nevis, whither we intended to go, on the eighteenth day
after our passing the Capes of Virginia, but had no sight of the
island; only our master said he was sure if he stood the same course
as he then was, and the gale held, I say he told me he was sure he
should make the island in less than five hours' sail; so he stood on
fair for the islands. However, his account had failed him, for we held
on all the evening, made no land, and likewise all night, when in the
grey of the morning we discovered from the topmast-head a brigantine
and a sloop making sail after us, at the distance of about six
leagues, fair weather, and the wind fresh at S.E.

Our master soon understood what they were, and came down into the
cabin to me to let me know it. I was much surprised, you may be sure,
at the danger, but my poor wife took from me all the concern for
myself to take care of her, for she was frighted to that degree that I
thought we should not have been able to keep life in her.

While we were thus under the first hurry and surprise of the thing,
suddenly another noise from the deck called us up to look out, and
that was, "Land! land!" The master and I--for by this time I had got
out of my cabin--run upon the deck, and there we saw the state of our
case very plain. The two rogues that stood after us laid on all the
canvas they could carry, and crowded after us amain, but at the
distance, as I have said, of about six leagues, rather more than less.
On the other hand, the land discovered lay about nine leagues right
ahead, so that if the pirates could get of us, so as to sail three
feet for our two, it was evident they would be up with us before we
could make the island. If not, we should escape them and get in; but
even then we had no great hope to do any more than to run the ship
ashore to save our lives, and so, stranding our vessel, spoil both
sloop and cargo.

When we were making this calculation our master came in cheerfully,
and told me he had crowded on more sail, and found the sloop carried
it very well, and that he did not find the rogues gained much upon us,
and that especially if one of them did not, that was the sloop, he
found he could go away from the brigantine as he pleased. Thus we gave
them what they call a stern chase, and they worked hard to come up
with us till towards noon, when on a sudden they both stood away and
gave us over, to our great satisfaction you may be sure.

We did not, it seems, so easily see the occasion of our deliverance as
the pirate did; for while we went spooning away large with the wind
for one of the islands, with those two spurs in our heels, that is,
with the two thieves at our sterns, there lay an English man-of-war in
the road of Nevis, which was the same island from whence they espied
the pirates, but the land lying between, we could not see them.

As the man-of-war discovered them she immediately slipped her cable
and put herself under sail in chase of the rogues; and they as soon
perceived her, and being windward, put themselves upon a wind to
escape her; and thus we were delivered, and in half-an-hour more we
knew who was our deliverer, seeing the man-of-war stretch ahead clear
of the island, and stand directly after the pirates, who now crowded
from us as fast as they crowded after us before; and thus we got safe
into Antigua, after the terrible apprehension we had been in of being
taken. Our apprehensions of being taken now were much more than they
would have been on board a loaden ship from or to London, where the
most they ordinarily do is to rifle the ship, take what is valuable
and portable, and let her go. But ours being but a sloop, and all our
loading being good provisions, such as they wanted, to be sure, for
their ship's store, they would certainly have carried us away, ship
and all, taken out the cargo and the men, and perhaps have set the
sloop on fire; so that, as to our cargo of gold, it had been
inevitably lost, and we hurried away, nobody knows where, and used as
such barbarous fellows are wont to use innocent people as fall into
their hands.

But we were now out of their hands, and had the satisfaction a few
days after to hear that the man-of-war pursued them so close,
notwithstanding they changed their course in the night, that the next
day they were obliged to separate and shift for themselves; so the
man-of-war took one of them, namely, the brigantine, and carried her
into Jamaica, but the other, viz., the sloop, made her escape.

Being arrived here, we presently disposed of our cargo, and at a
tolerable good price; and now the question was, what I should do next.
I looked upon myself to be safe here from the fears I had been under
of being discovered as a rebel, and so indeed I was; but having been
now absent five months, and having sent the ship back with a cargo of
rum and molasses, which I knew was wanting in my plantations, I
received the same vessel back in return loaden, as at first, with
provisions.

With this cargo my wife received a packet from London from the person
whom she had employed, as above, to solicit a pardon, who very
honestly wrote to her that he would not be so unjust to her friend,
whoever he was, as to put him to any expense for a private
solicitation; for that he was very well assured that his Majesty had
resolved, from his own native disposition to acts of clemency and
mercy to his subjects, to grant a general pardon, with some few
exceptions to persons extraordinary, and he hoped her friend was none
of the extraordinary persons to be excepted.

This was a kind of life from the dead to us both, and it was resolved
that my wife should go back in the sloop directly to Virginia, where
she should wait the good news from England, and should send me an
account of it as soon as she received it.

Accordingly she went back, and came safe with the sloop and cargo to
our plantation, from whence, after above four months' more
expectation, behold the sloop came to me again, but empty and gutted
of all her cargo, except about a hundred sacks of unground malt, which
the pirates, not knowing how to brew, knew not what to do with, and so
had left in her. However, to my infinite satisfaction, there was a
packet of letters from my wife, with another to her from England, as
well one from her friend as one from my own correspondent; both of
them inti mating that the king had signed an act of grace, that is to
say, a general free pardon, and sent me copies of the act, wherein it
was manifest that I was fully included.

And here let me hint, that having now, as it were, received my life at
the hands of King George, and in a manner so satisfying as it was to
me, it made a generous convert of me, and I became sincerely given in
to the interest of King George; and this from a principle of gratitude
and a sense of my obligation to his Majesty for my life; and it has
continued ever since, and will certainly remain with me as long as any
sense of honour and of the debt of gratitude remains with me. I
mention this to hint how far in such cases justice and duty to
ourselves commands us; namely, that to those who graciously give us
our lives when it is in their power to take them away, those lives are
a debt ever after, and ought to be set apart for their service and
interest as long as any of the powers of life remain, for gratitude is
a debt that never ceases while the benefit received remains; and if my
prince has given me my life, I can never pay the debt fully, unless
such a circumstance as this should happen, that the prince's life
should be in my power, and I as generously preserved it. And yet
neither would the obligation be paid then, because the cases would
differ; thus, that my preserving the life of my prince was my natural
duty, whereas the prince on his side, my life being forfeited to him,
had no motive but mere clemency and beneficence.

Perhaps this principle may not please all that read it; but as I have
resolved to guide my actions in things of such a nature by the rules
of strict virtue and principles of honour, so I must lay it down as a
rule of honour, that a man having once forfeited his life to the
justice of his prince and to the laws of his country, and receiving it
back as a bounty from the grace of his sovereign, such a man can never
lift up his hand again against that prince without a forfeiture of his
virtue and an irreparable breach of his honour and duty, and deserves
no pardon after it either from God or man. But all this is a
digression: I leave it as a sketch of the laws of honour, printed by
the laws of nature in the breast of a soldier or a man of honour, and
which, I believe, all impartial persons who understand what honour
means will subscribe to.

But I return now to my present circumstances. My wife was gone, and
with her all my good fortune and success in business seemed to have
forsaken me; and I had another scene of misery to go through, after I
had thought that all my misfortunes were over and at an end.

My sloop, as I have told you, arrived, but having met with a pirate
rogue in the Gulf of Florida, they took her first; then finding her
cargo to be all eatables, which they always want, they gutted her of
all her loading, except, as I have said, about a hundred sacks of
malt, which they really knew not what to do with; and, which was still
worse, they took away all the men except the master and two boys, who
they left on board just to run the vessel into Antigua, where they
said they were bound.

But the most valuable part of my cargo, viz., a packet of letters from
England, those they left, to my inexpressible comfort and
satisfaction; and, particularly, that by those I saw my way home to
return to my wife and to my plantations, from which I promised myself
never to wander any more.

In order to this, I now embarked myself and all my effects on board
the sloop, resolving to sail directly to the Capes of Virginia. My
captain beating it up to reach the Bahama channel, had not been two
days at sea but we were overtaken by a violent storm, which drove us
so far upon the coast of Florida as that we twice struck upon the
shore, and had we struck a third time we had been inevitably lost. A
day or two after that, the storm abating a little, we kept the sea,
but found the wind blowing so strong against our passing the gulf, and
the sea going so high, we could not hold it any longer. So we were
forced to bear away and make what shift we could; in which distress,
the fifth day after, we made land, but found it to be Cape ----, the
north-west part of the isle of Cuba. Here we found ourselves under a
necessity to run in under the land for shelter, though we had not come
to an anchor, so we had not touched the king of Spain's territories at
all. However, in the morning we were surrounded with five Spanish
barks, or boats, such as they call _barco longos_, full of men, who
instantly boarded us, took us and carried us into the Havannah, the
most considerable port belonging to the Spaniards in that part of the
world.

Here the sloop was immediately seized, and in consequence plundered,
as any one that knows the Spaniards, especially in that country, will
easily guess. Our men were made prisoners and sent to the common gaol;
and as for myself and the captain, we were carried before the Alcade
Major, or intendant of the place, as criminals.

I spoke Spanish very well, having served under the king of Spain in
Italy, and it stood me in good stead at this time; for I so
effectually argued the injustice of their treatment of me that the
governor, or what I ought to call him, frankly owned they ought not to
have stopped me, seeing I was in the open sea pursuing my voyage, and
offered no offence to anybody, and had not landed or offered to land
upon any part of his Catholic Majesty's dominions till I was brought
as a prisoner.

It was a great favour that I could obtain thus much; but I found it
easier to obtain an acknowledgment that I had received wrong than to
get any satisfaction for that wrong, and much less was there any hope
or prospect of restitution; and I was let know that I was to wait till
an account could be sent to the viceroy of Mexico, and orders could be
received back from him how to act in the affair.

I could easily foresee what all this tended to, namely, to a
confiscation of the ship and goods by the ordinary process at the
place; and that my being left to the decision of the viceroy of Mexico
was but a pretended representation of things to him from the
corregidore or judge of the place.

However, I had no remedy but the old insignificant thing called
patience, and this I was better furnished with because I did not so
much value the loss as I made them believe I did. My greatest
apprehensions were that they would detain me and keep me as a prisoner
for life, and perhaps send me to their mines in Peru, as they have
done many, and pretended to do to all that come on shore in their
dominions, how great soever the distresses may have been which have
brought them thither, and which has been the reason why others who
have been forced on shore have committed all manner of violence upon
the Spaniards in their turn, resolving, however dear they sold their
lives, not to fall into their hands.

But I got better quarter among them than that too, which was, as I
have said, much of it owing to my speaking Spanish, and to my telling
them how I had fought in so many occasions in the quarrel of his
Catholic Majesty in Italy; and, by great good chance, I had the king
of France's commission for lieutenant-colonel in the Irish brigade in
my pocket, where it was mentioned that the said brigade was then
serving in the armies of France, under the orders of his Catholic
Majesty, in Italy.

I failed not to talk up the gallantry and personal bravery of his
Catholic Majesty on all occasions, and particularly in many battles
where, by the way, his Majesty had never been at all, and in some
where I had never been myself. But I found I talked to people who knew
nothing of the matter, and so anything went down with them if it did
but praise the king of Spain and talk big of the Spanish cavalry, of
which, God knows, there was not one regiment in the army, at least
while I was there.

However, this way of managing myself obtained me the liberty of the
place, upon my parole that I would not attempt an escape; and I
obtained also, which was a great favour, to have two hundred pieces of
eight allowed me out of the sale of my cargo for subsistence till I
could negotiate my affairs at Mexico. As for my men, they were
maintained as prisoners at the public charge.

Well, after several months' solicitation and attendance, all I could
obtain was the satisfaction of seeing my ship and cargo confiscated
and my poor sailors in a fair way to be sent to the mines. The last I
begged off, upon condition of paying three hundred pieces of eight for
their ransom, and having them set on shore at Antigua, and myself to
remain hostage for the payment of the said three hundred pieces of
eight, and for two hundred pieces of eight, which I had already had,
and for five hundred pieces of eight more for my own ransom, if, upon
a return from Mexico, the sentence of confiscation, as above, should
be confirmed by the viceroy.

These were hard articles indeed, but I was forced to submit to them;
nor, as my circumstances were above all such matters as these, as to
substance, did I lay it much to heart. The greatest difficulty that
lay in my way was, that I knew not how to correspond with my friends
in any part of the world, or which way to supply myself with
necessaries or with money for the payment I had agreed to, the
Spaniards being so tenacious of their ports that they allowed nobody
to come on shore, or indeed near the shore, from any part of the
world, upon pain of seizure and confiscation, as had been my case
already. Upon this difficulty I began to reason with the corregidore,
and tell him that he put things upon us that were impossible, and that
were inconsistent with the customs of nations; that, if a man was
prisoner at Algiers, they would allow him to write to his friends to
pay his ransom, and would admit the person that brought it to come and
go free as a public person, and if they did not, no treaty could be
carried on for the ransom of a slave, nor the conditions be performed
when they are agreed upon.

I brought it then down to my own case, and desired to know, upon
supposition, that I might, within the time limited in that agreement,
have the sums of money ready for the ransom of my men and of myself,
how I should obtain to have notice given me of it, or how it should be
brought, seeing the very persons bringing that notice, or afterwards
presuming to bring the money, might be liable to be seized and
confiscated, as I had been, and the money itself be taken as a second
prize, without redeeming the first.

Though this was so reasonable a request that it could not be withstood
in point of argument, yet the Spaniard shrunk his head into his
shoulders, and said they had not power sufficient to act in such a
case; that the king's laws were so severe against the suffering any
strangers to set their foot on his Catholic Majesty's dominions in
America, and they could not dispense with the least tittle of them
with out a particular _assiento_, as they called it, from the
Consulado, or Chamber of Commerce, at Seville, or a command under the
hand and seal of the viceroy of Mexico.

"How! signior corregidore," said I, with some warmth, and, as it were,
with astonishment, "have you not authority enough to sign a passport
for an agent, or ambassador, to come on shore here, from any of the
king of Great Britain's governors in these parts, under a white flag,
or flag of truce, to speak with the governor of this place, or with
any other person in the king's name, on the subject of such business
as the governor may have to communicate? Why," said I, "if you cannot
do that, you cannot act according to the law of nations."

He shook his head, but still said no, he could not do even so much as
that; but here one of the military governors put in and opposed him,
and they two differed warmly, the first insisting that their orders
were deficient in that particular; but the other said that, as they
were bound up to them, it could not be in their power to act
otherwise, and that they were answerable for the ill consequences.

"Well, then," says the governor to the corregidore, "now you have kept
this Englishman as hostage for the ransom of the men that you have
dismissed, suppose he tells you the money is ready, either at such, or
such, or such a place, how shall he bring it hither? You will take all
the people prisoners that offer to bring it; what must he do? If you
say you will send and fetch it, what security shall he have that he
shall have his liberty when it is paid you? and why should he trust
you so far as to pay the money, and yet remain here a prisoner?"

This carried so much reason with it that the corregidore knew not what
to say, but that so was the law, and he could act no otherwise but by
the very letter of it; and here each was so positive that nothing
could determine it but another express to be sent to the viceroy of
Mexico.

Upon this the governor was so kind as to say he would get me a
passport for anybody that should bring the money, and any vessel they
were in, by his own authority, and for their safe returning, and
taking me with them, provided I would answer for it that they should
bring no European or other goods whatever with them, and should not
set foot on shore without his express permission, and provided he did
not receive orders to the contrary, in the meantime, from any superior
hand; and that, even in such a case, they should have liberty to go
back freely from whence they came, under the protection of a white
flag.

I bowed very respectfully to the governor in token of my acknowledging
his justice, and then presented my humble petition to him that he
would allow my men to take their own sloop; that it should be rated at
a certain value, and would be obliged they should bring specie on
board with them, and that they should either pay it for the sloop or
leave the sloop again.

Then he inquired to what country he would send them for so much money,
and if I could assure him of the payment; and when he understood it
was no farther than to Virginia he seemed very easy; and, to satisfy
the corregidore, who still stood off, adhering with a true Spanish
stiffness to the letter of the law, the said governor calls out to me:
"Signior," says he, "I shall make all this matter easy to you, if you
agree to my proposal. Your men shall have the sloop, on condition you
shall be my hostage for her return; but they shall not take her as
your sloop, though she shall in the effect be yours on the payment of
the money; but you shall take two of my men on board with you, upon
your parole for their safe return, and when she returns she shall
carry his Catholic Majesty's colours, and be entered as one of the
sloops belonging to the Havannah; one of the Spaniards to be
commander, and to be called by such a name as he shall appoint."

This the corregidore came into immediately, and said this was within
the letter, of the king's commanderie or precept; upon condition,
however, that she should bring no European goods on board. I desired
it might be put in other words; namely, that she should bring no
European goods on shore. It cost two days' debate between these two
whether it should pass that no European goods should be brought in the
ship or brought on shore; but having found means to intimate that I
meant not to trade there, but would not be tied from bringing a small
present to a certain person in acknowledgment of favours--I say, after
I had found room to place such a hint right where it should be placed,
I found it was all made easy to me; and it was all agreed presently
that, after the ransom was paid, and the ship also bought, it was but
reasonable that I should have liberty to trade to any other country
not in the dominions of the king of Spain, so to make up my losses;
and that it would be hard to oblige my men to bring away the vessel
light, and so lose the voyage, and add so much to our former
misfortunes; that, so long as no goods were brought on shore in the
country belonging to his Catholic Majesty's dominions, which was all
that they had to defend, the rest was no business of theirs.

Now I began to see my way through this unhappy business, and to find,
that as money would bring me out of it, so money would bring it to
turn to a good account another way. Wherefore I sent the sloop away
under Spanish colours, and called her the _Nuestra Signiora de la Val
de Grace_, commanded by Signior Giraldo de Nesma, one of the two
Spaniards.

With the sloop I sent letters to my wife and to my chief manager with
orders to load her back, as I there directed, viz., that she should
have two hundred barrels of flour, fifty barrels of pease; and, to
answer my other views, I ordered a hundred bales to be made up of all
sorts of European goods, such as not my own warehouses only would
supply, but such as they could be supplied with in other warehouses
where I knew they had credit for anything.

In this cargo I directed all the richest and most valuable English
goods they had, or could get, whether linen, woollen, or silk, to be
made up; the coarser things, such as we use in Virginia for clothing
of servants, such I ordered to be left behind for the use of the
plantation. In less than seven weeks' time the sloop returned, and I,
that failed not every day to look out for her on the strand, was the
first that spied her at sea at a distance, and knew her by her sails,
but afterwards more particularly by her signals.

When she returned she came into the road with her Spanish ancient
flying, and came to an anchor as directed; but I, that had seen her
some hours before, went directly to the governor and gave him an
account of her being come, and fain I would have obtained the favour
to have his excellency, as I called him, go on board in person, that
he might see how well his orders were executed. But he declined that,
saying he could not justify going off of the island, which was, in
short, to go out of his command of the fort, which he could not
reassume without a new commission from the king's own hand.

Then I asked leave to go on board myself, which he granted me; and I
brought on shore with me the full sum in gold which I had conditioned
to pay for the ransom both of my men and myself, and for the purchase
of the sloop; and as I obtained leave to land in a different place, so
my governor sent his son with six soldiers to receive and convey me
with the money to the castle, where he commanded, and therein to his
own house. I had made up the money in heavy parcels, as if it had been
all silver, and gave it to two of my men who belonged to the sloop,
with orders to them that they should make it seem, by their carrying
it, to be much heavier than it was. This was done to conceal three
parcels of goods which I had packed up with the money to make a
present to the governor as I intended.

When the money was carried in and laid down on a table, the governor
ordered my men to withdraw, and I gave the soldiers each of them a
piece of eight to drink, for which they were very thankful, and the
governor seemed well pleased with it also. Then I asked him presently
if he would please to receive the money. He said no, he would not
receive it but in presence of the corregidore and the other people
concerned. Then I begged his excellency, as I called him, to give me
leave to open the parcels in his presence, for that I would do myself
the honour to acknowledge his favours in the best manner I could.

He told me no, he could not see anything be brought on shore but the
money; but, if I had brought anything on shore for my own use, he
would not be so strict as to inquire into that, so I might do what I
pleased myself.

Upon that I went into the place, shut myself in, and having opened all
the things, placed them to my mind. There was five little parcels, as
follows:--


1, 2. A piece of twenty yards fine English broad cloth, five yards
black, five yards crimson, in one parcel; and the rest of fine
mixtures in another parcel.

3. A piece of thirty ells of fine Holland linen.

4. A piece of eighteen yards of fine English brocaded silk.

5. A piece of black Colchester bays.


After I had placed these by themselves, I found means, with some
seeming difficulties and much grimace, to bring him to know that this
was intended for a present to himself. After all that part was over,
and he had seemed to accept them, he signified, after walking a
hundred turns and more in the room by them, by throwing his hat, which
was under his arm, upon them, and making a very stiff bow; I say,
after this he seemed to take his leave of me for a while, and I waited
in an outer room. When I was called in again, I found that he had
looked over all the particulars, and caused them to be removed out of
the place.

But when I came again I found him quite another man. He thanked me for
my present; told me it was a present fit to be given to a viceroy of
Mexico rather than to a mere governor of a fort; that he had done me
no services suitable to such a return, but that he would see if he
could not oblige me further before I left the place.

After our compliments were over I obtained leave to have the
corregidore sent for, who accordingly came, and in his presence the
money stipulated for the ransom of the ship and of the men was paid.

But here the corregidore showed that he would be as severely just on
my side as on theirs, for he would not admit the money as a ransom for
us as prisoners, but as a deposit for so much as we were to be
ransomed for if the sentence of our being made prisoners should be
confirmed.

And then the governor and corregidore, joining together, sent a
representation of the whole affair--at least we were told so--to the
viceroy of Mexico; and it was privately hinted to me that I would do
well to stay for the return of the _aviso_--that is, a boat which they
send over the bay to Vera Cruz with an express to Mexico, whose return
is generally performed in two months.

I was not unwilling to stay, having secret hints given me that I
should find some way to go with my sloop towards Vera Cruz myself,
where I might have an occasion to trade privately for the cargo which
I had on board. But it came about a nearer way; for, about two days
after this money being deposited, as above, the governor's son invited
himself on board my sloop, where I told him I would be very glad to
see him, and whither, at the same time, he brought with him three
considerable merchants, Spaniards, two of them not inhabitants of the
place.

When they were on board they were very merry and pleasant, and I
treated them so much to their satisfaction that, in short, they were
not well able to go on shore for that night, but were content to take
a nap on some carpets, which I caused to be spread for them; and that
the governor's son might think himself well used, I brought him a very
good silk nightgown, with a crimson velvet cap, to lie down in, and in
the morning desired him to accept of them for his use, which he took
very kindly.

During that merry evening one of the merchants, not so touched with
drink as the young gentleman, nor so as not to mind what it was he
came about, takes an occasion to withdraw out of the great cabin and
enter into a parley with the master of the sloop in order to trade for
what European goods we had on board. The master took the hint, and
gave me notice of what had passed, and I gave him instructions what to
say and what to do; according to which instructions they made but few
words, bought the goods for about five thousand pieces of eight, and
carried them away themselves, and at their own hazards.

This was very agreeable to me, for now I began to see I should lick
myself whole by the sale of this cargo, and should make myself full
amends of Jack Spaniard for all the injuries he had done me in the
first of these things. With this view I gave my master or captain of
the sloop instructions for sale of all the rest of the goods, and left
him to manage by himself, which he did so well that he sold the whole
cargo the next day to the three Spaniards; with this additional
circumstance, that they desired the sloop might carry the goods, as
they were on board, to such part of the _terra firma_ as they should
appoint between the Honduras and the coast of La Vera Cruz.

It was difficult for me to make good this part of the bargain, but
finding the price agreed for would very well answer the voyage, I
consented. But then how to send the sloop away and remain among the
Spaniards when I was now a clear man, this was a difficulty too, as it
was also to go away, and not wait for a favourable answer from the
viceroy of Mexico to the representation of the governor and the
corregidore. However, at last I resolved to go in the sloop, fall out
what would; so I went to the governor and represented to him that,
being now to expect a favourable answer from Mexico, it would be a
great loss to me to keep the sloop there all the while, and I desired
his leave for me to go with the sloop to Antigua to sell and dispose
of the cargo, which he well knew I was obliged not to bring on shore
there at the Havannah, and which would be in danger of being spoiled
by lying so long on board. This I obtained readily, with license to
come again into the road, and, for myself only, to come on shore in
order to hear the viceroy's pleasure in my case, which was depending.

Having thus obtained a license or passport for the sloop and myself, I
put to sea with the three Spanish merchants on board with me. They
told me they did not live at the Havannah, but it seems one of them
did; and some rich merchants of the Havannah, or of the parts
thereabouts in the same island, were concerned with them, for they
brought on board, that night we put to sea, a great sum of money in
pieces of eight; and, as I understood afterwards, that these merchants
bought the cargo of me, and though they gave me a very great price for
everything, yet that they sold them again to the merchants, who they
procured on the coast of La Vera Cruz, at a prodigious advantage, so
that they got above a hundred per cent, after I had gained very
sufficiently before.

We sailed from the Havannah directly for Vera Cruz. I scrupled
venturing into the port at first, and was very uneasy lest I should
have another Spanish trick put upon me; but as we sailed under Spanish
colours, they showed us such authentic papers from the proper officers
that there was no room to fear anything.

However, when we came in sight of the Spanish coast, I found they had
a secret clandestine trade to carry on, which, though it was secret,
yet they knew the way of it so well that it was but a mere road to
them. The case was this: we stood in close under the shore in the
night, about six leagues to the north of the port, where two of the
three merchants went on shore in the boat, and in three hours or there
abouts they came on board again with five canoes and seven or eight
merchants more with them, and as soon as they were on board we stood
off to sea, so that by daylight we were quite out of sight of land.

I ought to have mentioned before that as soon as we were put to sea
from the Havannah, and during our voyage into the Gulf of Mexico,
which was eight days, we rummaged the whole cargo, and opening every
bale as far as the Spanish merchants desired, we trafficked with them
for the whole cargo, except the barrels of flour and pease.

This cargo was considerable in itself, for my wife's account or
invoice, drawn out by my tutor and manager, amounted to £2684, 10s.,
and I sold the whole, including what had been sold in the evening,
when they were on board first, as I have said, for thirty-eight
thousand five hundred and ninety-three pieces of eight, and they
allowed me twelve hundred pieces of eight for the freight of the
sloop, and made my master and the seamen very handsome presents
besides; and they were well able to do this too, as you shall hear
presently.

After we were gotten out of sight of land the Spaniards fell to their
traffic, and our three merchants opened their shop, as they might say,
for it was their shop. As to me, I had nothing to do with it or with
their goods. They drove their bargain in a few hours, and at night we
stood in again for the shore, when the five canoes carried a great
part of the goods on shore, and brought the money back in specie, as
well for that they carried as for all the rest, and at their second
voyage carried all away clear, leaving me nothing on board but my
barrels of flour and pease, which they bade me money for too, but not
so much as I expected.

Here I found that my Spanish merchants made above seventy thousand
pieces of eight of the cargo I had sold them, upon which I had a great
mind to be acquainted with those merchants on the _terra firma_, who
were the last customers; for it presently occurred to me that I could
easily go with a sloop from Virginia, and taking a cargo directed on
purpose from England of about £5000 or £6000, I might easily make four
of one. With this view I began to make a kind of an acquaintance with
the Spaniards which came in the canoes, and we became so intimate that
at last, with the consent of the three Spaniards of the Havannah, I
accepted an invitation on shore to their house, which was a little
villa, or rather plantation, where they had an _ingenio_, that is to
say, a sugar-house, or sugar-work, and there they treated us like
princes.

I took occasion at this invitation to say that, if I knew how to find
my way thither again, I could visit them once or twice a year, very
much to their advantage and mine too. One of the Spaniards took the
hint, and taking me into a room by myself, "Seignior," says he, "if
you have any thoughts of coming to this place again, I shall give you
such directions as you shall be sure not to mistake; and, upon either
coming on shore in the night and coming up to this place, or upon
making the signals which we shall give you, we will not fail to come
off to you, and bring money enough for any _cargaison_" (so they call
it) "that you shall bring."

I took all their directions, took their paroles of honour for my
safety, and, without taking any notice to my first three merchants,
laid up the rest in my most secret thoughts, resolving to visit them
again in as short a time as I could; and thus having, in about five
days, finished all our merchandising, we stood off to sea, and made
for the island of Cuba, where I set my three Spaniards on shore with
all their treasure, to their heart's content, and made the best of my
way to Antigua, where, with all the despatch I could, I sold my two
hundred barrels of flour, which, however, had suffered a little by the
length of the voyage; and having laden the sloop with rum, molasses,
and sugar, I set sail again for the Havannah.

I was now uneasy indeed, for fear of the pirates, for I was a rich
ship, having, besides goods, near forty thousand pieces of eight in
silver.

When I came back to the Havannah, I went on shore to wait on the
governor and the corregidore, and to hear what return was had from the
viceroy, and had the good fortune to know that the viceroy had
disallowed that part of the sentence which condemned us as prisoners
and put a ransom on us, which he insisted could not be but in time of
open war. But as to the confiscation, he deferred it to the Chamber or
Council of Commerce at Seville, and the appeal to the king, if such be
preferred.

This was, in some measure, a very good piece of justice in the
viceroy; for, as we had not been on shore, we could not be legally
imprisoned; and for the rest, I believe if I would have given myself
the trouble to have gone to Old Spain, and have preferred my claim to
both the ship and the cargo, I had recovered them also.

However, as it was, I was now a freeman without ransom, and my men
were also free, so that all the money which I had deposited, as above,
was returned me; and thus I took my leave of the Havannah, and made
the best of my way for Virginia, where I arrived after a year and a
half's absence; and notwithstanding all my losses, came home above
forty thousand pieces of eight richer than I went out.

As to the old affair about the Preston prisoners, that was quite at an
end, for the general pardon passed in Parliament made me perfectly
easy, and I took no more thought about that part. I might here very
usefully observe how necessary and inseparable  a companion fear is to
guilt. It was but a few months before that the face of a poor Preston
transport would have frighted me out of my wits; to avoid them I
feigned myself sick, and wrapped my legs in flannel, as if I had the
gout; whereas now they were no more surprise to me, nor was I any more
uneasy to see them, than I was to see any other of the servants of the
plantations.

And that which was more particular than all was, that, though before I
fancied every one of them would know me and remember me, and
consequently betray and accuse me, now, though I was frequently among
them, and saw most of them, if not all of them, one time or other,
nay, though I remembered several of their faces, and even some of
their names, yet there was not a man of them that ever took the least
notice of me, or of having known or seen me before.

It would have been a singular satisfaction to me if I could have known
so much as this of them before, and have saved me all the fatigue,
hazard, and misfortune that befell me afterwards; but man, a short
sighted creature, sees so little before him that he can neither
anticipate his joys nor prevent his disasters, be they ever so little
a distance from him.

I had now my head full of my West India project, and I began to make
provision for it accordingly. I had a full account of what European
goods were most acceptable in New Spain; and, to add to my speed, I
knew that the Spaniards were in great want of European goods, the
galleons from Old Spain having been delayed to an unusual length of
time for the two years before. Upon this account, not having time, as
I thought, to send to England for a cargo of such goods as were most
proper, I resolved to load my sloop with tobacco and rum, the last I
brought from Antigua, and go away to Boston in New England, and to New
York, and see if I could pick up a cargo to my mind.

Accordingly, I took twenty thousand pieces of eight in money, and my
sloop laden as above, and taking my wife with me, we went away. It was
an odd and new thing at New England to have such a quantity of goods
bought up there by a sloop from Virginia, and especially to be paid
for in ready money, as I did for most of my goods; and this set all
the trading heads upon the stretch, to inquire what and who I was; to
which they had an immediate and direct answer, that I was a very
considerable planter in Virginia, and that was all any of my men on
board the sloop could tell of me, and enough too.

Well, it was the cause of much speculation among them, as I heard at
second and third hands. Some said, "He is certainly going to Jamaica;"
others said, "He is going to trade with the Spaniards;" others that
"He is going to the South Sea and turn half merchant, half pirate, on
the coast of Chili and Peru;" some one thing, some another, as the men
gossips found their imaginations directed; but we went on with our
business, and laid out twelve thousand pieces of eight, besides our
cargo of rum and tobacco, and went from thence to New York, where we
laid out the rest.

The chief of the cargo we bought here was fine English broadcloth,
serges, druggets, Norwich stuffs, bays, says, and all kinds of woollen
manufactures, as also linen of all sorts, a very great quantity, and
near £1000 in fine silks of several sorts. Being thus freighted, I
came back safe to Virginia, and with very little addition to my cargo,
began to prepare for my West India voyage.

I should have mentioned that I had built upon my sloop and raised her
a little, so that I had made her carry twelve guns, and fitted her up
for defence; for I thought she should not be attacked and boarded by a
few Spanish _barco longos_, as she was before; and I found the benefit
of it afterwards, as you shall hear.

We set sail the beginning of August, and as I had twice been attacked
by pirates in passing the Gulf of Florida, or among the Bahama
Islands, I resolved, though it was farther about, to stand off to sea,
and so keep, as I believed it would be, out of the way of them.

We passed the tropic, as near as we could guess, just where the famous
Sir William Phipps fished up the silver from the Spanish plate wreck,
and, standing in between the islands, kept our course W. by S.,
keeping under the isle of Cuba, and so running away, trade, as they
call it, into the great Gulf of Mexico, leaving the island of Jamaica
to the S. and S.E., by this means avoiding, as I thought, all the
Spaniards of Cuba or the Havannah.

As we passed the west point of Cuba three Spanish boats came off to
board us, as they had done before, on the other side of the island.
But they found themselves mistaken; we were too many for them, for we
run out our guns, which they did not perceive before, and firing three
or four shots at them, they retired.

The next morning they appeared again, being five large boats and a
barque, and gave us chase; but we then spread our Spanish colours, and
brought to to fight them, at which they retired; so we escaped this
danger by the addition of force which we had made to our vessel.

We now had a fair run for our port, and as I had taken very good
directions, I stood away to the north of St. John d'Ulva, and then
running in for the shore, found the place appointed exactly; and going
on shore, I sent the master of my sloop directly to the _ingenio_,
where he found the Spanish merchant at his house, and where he dwelt
like a sovereign prince, who welcomed him, and understanding that I
was in a particular boat at the creek, as appointed, he came
immediately with him, and bringing another Spaniard from a villa not
far off, in about four hours they were with me.

They would have persuaded me to go up to their houses and have stayed
there till the next night, ordering the sloop to stand off as usual,
but I would not consent to let the sloop go to sea without me, so we
went on board directly, and, as the night was almost run, stood off to
sea; so by daybreak we were quite out of sight of land.

Here we began, as I said before, to open shop, and I found the
Spaniards were extremely surprised at seeing such a cargo--I mean so
large; for, in short, they had cared not if it had been four times as
much. They soon ran through the contents of all the bales we opened
that night, and, with very little dispute about the price, they
approved and accepted all that I showed them; but as they said they
had not money for any greater parcel, they agreed to go on shore the
next evening for more money.

However, we spent the remainder of the night in looking over and
making inventories or invoices of the rest of the cargo, that so they
might see the goods, know the value, and know what more money they had
to bring.


[Illustration: Colonel Jacque's arrival is announced]


Accordingly, in the evening we stood in for the shore, and they
carried part of the cargo with them, borrowing the sloop's boat to
assist them; and after they had lodged and landed the goods they came
on board again, bringing three of the other merchants with them who
were concerned before, and money enough to clear the whole ship--ay,
and ship and all, if I had been willing to sell her.

To give them their due, they dealt with me like men of honour. They
were indeed sensible that they bought everything much cheaper of me
than they did before of the three merchants of the Havannah, these
merchants having been, as it were, the hucksters, and bought them
first of me, and then advanced, as I have said, above one hundred per
cent, upon the price they gave me. But yet, at the same time, I
advanced in the price much more now than I did before to the said
Spaniards; nor was it without reason, because of the length and risk
of the voyage, both out and home, which now lay wholly upon me.

In short, I sold the whole cargo to them, and for which I received
near two hundred thousand pieces of eight in money; besides which,
when they came on board the second time, they brought all their boats
loaden with fresh provisions, hogs, sheep, fowls, sweetmeats, &c.,
enough for my whole voyage, all which they made a present of to me.
And thus we finished our traffic to our mutual satisfaction, and
parted with promises of further commerce, and with assurances on their
part of all acts of friendship and assistance that I could desire if
any disaster should befall me in any of these adventures--as indeed
was not improbable, considering the strictness and severity of their
customs in case any people were trading upon their coast.

I immediately called a council with my little crew which way we should
go back. The mate was for beating it up to windward and getting up to
Jamaica; but as we were too rich to run any risks, and were to take
the best course to get safe home, I thought, and so did the master of
the sloop, that our best way was to coast about the bay, and, keeping
the shore of Florida on board, make the shortest course to the gulf,
and so make for the coast of Carolina, and to put in there into the
first port we could, and wait for any English men-of-war that might be
on the coast to secure us to the capes.

This was the best course we could take, and proved very safe to us,
excepting that, about the cape of Florida, and on the coast in the
gulf, till we came to the height of St. Augustine, we were several
times visited with the Spaniards' _barco longos_ and small barks, in
hopes of making a prize of us; but carrying Spanish colours deceived
most of them, and a good tier of guns kept the rest at a distance, so
that we came safe, though once or twice in danger of being run on
shore by a storm of wind--I say, we came safe into Charles River in
Carolina.

From hence I found means to send a letter home, with an account to my
wife of my good success; and having an account that the coast was
clear of pirates, though there were no men-of-war in the place, I
ventured forward, and, in short, got safe into the Bay of Chesapeake,
that is to say, within the capes of Virginia, and in a few days more
to my own house, having been absent three months and four days.

Never did any vessel on this side the world make a better voyage in so
short a time that I made in this sloop; for by the most moderate
computation I cleared in these three months £25,000 sterling in ready
money, all the charges of the voyages to New England also being
reckoned up.

Now was my time to have sat still, contented with what I had got, if
it was in the power of man to know when his good fortune was at the
highest. And more, my prudent wife gave it as her opinion that I
should sit down satisfied and push the affair no farther, and
earnestly persuaded me to do so. But I, that had a door open, as I
thought, to immense treasure, that had found the way to have a stream
of the golden rivers of Mexico flow into my plantation of Virginia,
and saw no hazards more than what were common to all such things in
the prosecution--I say, to me these things looked with another face,
and I dreamed of nothing but millions and hundreds of thousands; so,
contrary to all moderate measures, I pushed on for another voyage, and
laid up a stock of all sorts of goods that I could get together proper
for the trade. I did not indeed go again to New England, for I had by
this time a very good cargo come from England pursuant to a commission
I had sent several months before; so that, in short, my cargo,
according to the invoice now made out, amounted to above £10,000
sterling first cost, and was a cargo so sorted and so well bought that
I expected to have advanced upon them much more in proportion than I
had done in the cargo before.

With these expectations we began our second voyage in April, being
about five months after our return from the first. We had not indeed
the same good speed, even in our beginning, as we had at first; for
though we stood off to sea about sixty leagues in order to be out of
the way of the pirates, yet we had not been above five days at sea but
we were visited and rifled by two pirate barks, who, being bound to
the northward, that is to say, the banks of Newfoundland, took away
all our provisions and all our ammunition and small arms, and left us
very ill provided to pursue our voyage; and it being so near home, we
thought it advisable to come about and stand in for the capes again,
to restore our condition and furnish ourselves with stores of all
kinds for our voyage. This took us up about ten days, and we put to
sea again. As for our cargo, the pirates did not meddle with it, being
all bale goods, which they had no present use for, and knew not what
to do with if they had them.

We met with no other adventure worth naming till, by the same course
that we had steered before, we came into the Gulf of Mexico; and the
first misfortune we met with here was, that, on the back of Cuba,
crossing towards the point of the _terra firma_, on the coast of
Yucatan, we had sight of the flota of New Spain, that is, of the ships
which come from Carthagena or Porto Bello, and go to the Havannah, in
order to pursue their voyage to Europe.

They had with them one Spanish man-of-war and three frigates. Two of
the frigates gave us chase; but, it being just at the shutting in of
the day, we soon lost sight of them, and standing to the north, across
the Bay of Mexico, as if we were going to the mouth of Mississippi,
they lost us quite, and in a few days more we made the bottom of the
bay, being the port we were bound for.

We stood in as usual in the night, and gave notice to our friends; but
instead of their former readiness to come on board, they gave us
notice that we had been seen in the bay, and that notice of us was
given at Vera Cruz and at other places, and that several frigates were
in quest of us, and that three more would be cruising the next morning
in search for us. We could not conceive how this could be; but we were
afterwards told that those three frigates, having lost sight of us in
the night, had made in for the shore, and had given the alarm of us as
of privateers.

Be that as it would, we had nothing to do but to consider what course
to take immediately. The Spanish merchant's advice was very good if we
had taken it, namely, to have unladen as many of our bales as we could
that very night by the help of our boat and their canoes, and to make
the best of our way in the morning to the north of the gulf, and take
our fate.

This my skipper or master thought very well of, but when we began to
put it into execution, we were so confused and in such a hurry, being
not resolved what course to take, that we could not get out above
sixteen bales of all sorts of goods before it began to be too light
and it behoved us to sail. At last the master proposed a medium, which
was, that I should go on shore in the next boat, in which were five
bales of goods more, and that I should stay on shore if the Spanish
merchants would undertake to conceal me, and let them go to sea and
take their chance.

The Spanish merchants readily undertook to protect me, especially it
being so easy to have me pass for a natural Spaniard, and so they took
me on shore with twenty-one bales of my goods, and the sloop stood off
to sea. If they met with any enemies they were to stand in for the
shore the next night; and we failed not to look well out for them, but
to no purpose, for the next day they were discovered and chased by two
Spanish frigates. They stood from them, and the sloop, being an
excellent sailer, gained so much that they would certainly have been
clear of them when night came on, but a small picaroon of a sloop kept
them company in spite of all they could do, and two or three times
offered to engage them, thereby to give time to the rest to come up;
but the sloop kept her way, and gave them a chase of three days and
nights, having a fresh gale of wind at S.W., till she made the Rio
Grand, or, as the French call it, the Mississippi, and there finding
no remedy, they ran the vessel on shore not far from the fort which
the Spaniards call Pensacola, garrisoned at that time with French. Our
men would have entered the river as a port, but having no pilot, and
the current of the river being strong against them, the sloop ran on
shore, and the men shifted as well as they could in their boats.

I was now in a very odd condition indeed. My circumstances were in one
sense, indeed, very happy--namely, that I was in the hands of my
friends, for such really they were, and so faithful that no men could
have been more careful of their own safety than were they of mine; and
that which added to the comfort of my new condition was the produce of
my goods, which were gotten on shore by their own advice and
direction, which was a fund sufficient to maintain me with them as
long as I could be supposed to stay there; and if not, the first
merchant to whose house I went assured me that he would give me credit
for twenty thousand pieces of eight if I had occasion for it.

My greatest affliction was, that I knew not how to convey news to my
wife of my present condition, and how, among many misfortunes of the
voyage, I was yet safe and in good hands.

But there was no remedy for this part but the great universal cure of
all incurable sorrows, viz., patience; and, indeed, I had a great deal
of reason, not for patience only, but thankfulness, if I had known the
circumstances which I should have been reduced to if I had fallen into
the hands of the Spaniards; the best of which that I could reasonably
have expected had been to have been sent to the mines, or, which was
ten thousand times worse, the Inquisition; or, if I had escaped the
Spaniards, as my men in the sloop did, the hardships they were exposed
to, the dangers they were in, and the miseries they suffered were
still worse in wandering among savages, and the more savage French,
who plundered and stripped them, instead of relieving and supplying
them in their long wilderness journey over the mountains till they
reached the S.W. parts of South Carolina, a journey which, indeed,
deserves to have an account to be given of it by itself. I say, all
these things, had I known of them, would have let me see that I had a
great deal of reason, not only to be patient under my present
circumstances, but satisfied and thankful.

Here, as I said, my patron, the merchant, entertained me like a
prince; he made my safety his peculiar care, and while we were in any
expectation of the sloop being taken and brought into Vera Cruz, he
kept me retired at a little house in a wood, where he kept a fine
aviary of all sorts of American birds, and out of which he yearly sent
some as presents to his friends in Old Spain.

This retreat was necessary lest, if the sloop should be taken and
brought into Vera Cruz, and the men be brought in prisoners, they
should be tempted to give an account of me as their supercargo or
merchant, and where both I and the twenty-one bales of goods were set
on shore. As for the goods, he made sure work with them, for they were
all opened, taken out of the bales, and separated, and, being mixed
with other European goods which came by the galleons, were made up in
new package, and sent to Mexico in several parcels, some to one
merchant, some to another, so that it was impossible to have found
them out, even if they had had information of them.

In this posture, and in apprehension of some bad news of the sloop,
I remained at the villa, or house in the vale--for so they called
it--about five weeks. I had two negroes appointed to wait on me, one
of which was my purveyor, or my cook, the other my valet; and my
friend, the master of all, came constantly every evening to visit and
sup with me, when we walked out together into the aviary, which was,
of its kind, the most beautiful thing that ever I saw in the world.

After above five weeks' retreat of this kind, he had good intelligence
of the fate of the sloop, viz., that the two frigates and a sloop had
chased her till she ran on ground near the fort of Pensacola; that
they saw her stranded and broke in pieces by the force of the waves,
the men making their escape in their boat. This news was brought, it
seems, by the said frigates to La Vera Cruz, where my friend went on
purpose to be fully informed, and received the account from one of the
captains of the frigates, and discoursed with him at large about it.

I was better pleased with the loss of the sloop and all my cargo, the
men being got on shore and escaping, than I should have been with the
saving the whole cargo, if the men had fallen into the hands of the
Spaniards; for now I was safe, whereas then, it being supposed they
would have been forced to some discovery about me, I must have fled,
and should have found it very difficult to have made my escape, even
with all that my friends could have done for me too.

But now I was perfectly easy, and my friend, who thought confining me
at the house in the vale no longer needful, brought me publicly home
to his dwelling-house, as a merchant come from Old Spain by the last
galleons, and who, having been at Mexico, was come to reside with him.

Here I was dressed like a Spaniard of the better sort, had three
negroes to attend me, and was called Don Ferdinand de Villa Moresa, in
Castilia Feja--that is to say, in Old Castile.

Here I had nothing to do but to walk about and ride out into the
woods, and come home again to enjoy the pleasantest and most agreeable
retirement in the world; for certainly no men in the world live in
such splendour and wallow in such immense treasures as the merchants
of this place.

They live, as I have said, in a kind of country retreat at their
villas, or, as we would call them in Virginia, their plantations, and,
as they do call them, their _ingenios_, where they make their indigo
and their sugars. But they have also houses and warehouses at Vera
Cruz, where they go twice a year, when the galleons arrive from Old
Spain, and when those galleons relade for their return. And it was
surprising to me, when I went to La Vera Cruz with them, to see what
prodigious consignments they had from their correspondents in Old
Spain, and with what despatch they managed them; for no sooner were
the cases, packs, and bales of European goods brought into their
warehouses but they were opened and repacked by porters and packers of
their own--that is to say, negroes and Indian servants--and being made
up into new bales and separate parcels, were all despatched again by
horses for Mexico, and directed to their several merchants there, and
the remainder carried home, as above, to the _ingenio_ where they
lived, which was near thirty English miles from Vera Cruz, so that in
about twenty days their warehouses were again entirely free. At La
Vera Cruz, all their business was over there, and they and all their
servants retired; for they stayed no longer there than needs must,
because of the unhealthiness of the air.

After the goods were thus despatched, it was equally surprising to see
how soon, and with what exactness, the merchants of Mexico to whom
those cargoes were separately consigned made the return, and how it
came all in silver or in gold, so that their warehouses in a few
months were piled up, even to the ceiling, with chests of pieces of
eight and with bars of silver.

It is impossible to describe in the narrow compass of this work with
what exactness and order, and yet with how little hurry, and not the
least confusion, everything was done, and how soon a weight of
business of such importance and value was negotiated and finished, the
goods repacked, invoices made, and everything despatched and gone; so
that in about five weeks all the goods they had received from Europe
by the galleons were disposed of and entered in their journals to the
proper account of their merchant to whom they were respectively
consigned; from thence they had book-keepers who drew out the invoices
and wrote the letters, which the merchant himself only read over and
signed, and then other hands copied all again into other books.

I can give no estimate of the value of the several consignments they
received by that flota; but I remember that, when the galleons went
back, they shipped on board, at several times, one million three
hundred thousand pieces of eight in specie, besides a hundred and
eighty bales or bags of cochineal and about three hundred bales of
indigo; but they were so modest that they said this was for themselves
and their friends. That is to say, the several merchants of Mexico
consigned large quantities of bullion to them, to ship on board and
consign according to their order; but then I know also that, for all
that, they were allowed commission, so that their gain was very
considerable even that way also.

I had been with them at La Vera Cruz, and came back again before we
came to an account for the goods which I had brought on shore in the
twenty-one bales, which, by the account we brought them to (leaving a
piece of everything to be governed by our last market), amounted to
eight thousand five hundred and seventy pieces of eight, all which
money my friend--for so I must now call him--brought me in specie, and
caused his negroes to pile them up in one corner of my apartment; so
that I was indeed still very rich, all things considered.

There was a bale which I had caused to be packed up on purpose in
Virginia, and which indeed I had written for from England, being
chiefly of fine English broadcloths, silk, silk druggets, and fine
stuffs of several kinds, with some very fine hollands, which I set
apart for presents, as I should find occasion; and as, whatever hurry
I was in at carrying the twenty-one bales of goods on shore, I did not
forget to let this bale be one of them, so, when we came to a sale for
the rest, I told them that this was a pack with clothes and
necessaries for my own wearing and use, and so desired it might not be
opened with the rest, which was accordingly observed, and that bale or
pack was brought into my apartment.

This bale was, in general, made up of several smaller bales, which I
had directed, so that I might have room to make presents, equally
sorted as the circumstance might direct me. However, they were all
considerable, and I reckoned the whole bale cost me near £200 sterling
in England; and though my present circumstances required some limits
to my bounty in making presents, yet the obligation I was under being
so much the greater, especially to this one friendly, generous
Spaniard, I thought I could not do better than, by opening two of the
smaller bales, join them together, and make my gift some thing
suitable to the benefactor, and to the respect he had shown me.
Accordingly, I took two bales, and, laying the goods together, the
contents were as follows:--


Two pieces of fine English broadcloth, the finest that could be got in
London, divided, as was that which I gave to the governor at the
Havannah, into fine crimson in grain, fine light mixtures, and fine
black.

Four pieces of fine holland, of 7s. to 8s. per ell in London.

Twelve pieces of fine silk drugget and duroys, for men's wear.

Six pieces of broad silks, two damasks, two brocaded silks, and two
mantuas.

With a box of ribands and a box of lace; the last cost about £40
sterling in England.


This handsome parcel I laid open in my apartment, and brought him
upstairs one morning, on pretence to drink chocolate with me, which he
ordinarily did; when, as we drank chocolate and was merry, I said to
him, though I had sold him almost all my cargo and taken his money,
yet the truth was, that I ought not to have sold them to him, but to
have laid them all at his feet, for that it was to his direction I
owed the having anything saved at all.

He smiled, and, with a great deal of friendship in his face, told me
that not to have paid me for them would have been to have plundered a
shipwreck, which had been worse than to have robbed an hospital.

At last I told him I had two requests to make to him, which must not
be denied. I told him I had a small present to make him, which I would
give him a reason why he should not refuse to accept; and the second
request I would make after the first was granted. He said he would
have accepted my present from me if I had not been under a disaster,
but as it was it would be cruel and ungenerous. But I told him he was
obliged to hear my reason for his accepting it. Then I told him that
this parcel was made up for him by name by my wife and I in Virginia,
and his name set on the marks of the bale, and accordingly I showed
him the marks, which was indeed on one of the bales, but I had doubled
it now, as above, so that I told him these were his own proper goods;
and, in short, I pressed him so to receive them that he made a bow;
and I said no more, but ordered my negro, that is to say, his negro
that waited on me, to carry them all, except the two boxes, into his
apartments, but would not let him see the particulars till they were
all carried away.

After he was gone about a quarter of an hour, he came in raving and
almost swearing, and in a great passion, but I could easily see he was
exceedingly pleased; and told me, had he known the particulars, he
would never have suffered them to have gone as he did, and at last
used the very same compliment that the governor at the Havannah used,
viz., that it was a present fit for a viceroy of Mexico rather than
for him.

When he had done, he then told me he remembered I had two requests to
him, and that one was not to be told till after the first was granted,
and he hoped now I had something to ask of him that was equal to the
obligation I laid upon him.

I told him I knew it was not the custom in Spain for a stranger to
make presents to the ladies, and that I would not in the least doubt
but that, what ever the ladies of his family required as proper for
their use, he would appropriate to them as he thought fit; but that
there were two little boxes in the parcel which my wife with her own
hand had directed to the ladies; and I begged he would be pleased with
his own hand to give them in my wife's name, as directed; that I was
only the messenger, but that I could not be honest if I did not
discharge myself of the trust reposed in me.

These were the two boxes of ribands and lace, which, knowing the
nicety of the ladies in Spain, or rather of the Spaniards about their
women, I had made my wife pack up, and directed with her own hand, as
I have said.

He smiled, and told me it was true the Spaniards did not ordinarily
admit so much freedom among the women as other nations; but he hoped,
he said, I would not think the Spaniards thought all their women
whores, or that all Spaniards were jealous of their wives; that, as to
my present, since he had agreed to accept of it, I should have the
direction of what part I pleased to his wife and daughters; for he had
three daughters.

Here I strained courtesies again, and told him by no means; I would
direct nothing of that kind. I only begged that he would with his own
hand present to his donna, or lady, the present designed her by my
wife, and that he would present it in her name, now living in
Virginia. He was extremely pleased with the nicety I used; and I saw
him present it to her accordingly, and could see, at the opening of
it, that she was extremely pleased with the present itself, as indeed
might very well be, for in that country it was worth a very
considerable sum of money.

Though I was used with an uncommon friendship before, and nothing
could well be desired more, yet the grateful sense I showed of it in
the magnificence of this present was not lost, and the whole family
appeared sensible of it; so that I must allow that presents, where
they can be made in such a manner, are not without their influence,
where the persons were not at all mercenary either before or after.

I had here now a most happy and comfortable retreat, though it was a
kind of an exile. Here I enjoyed everything I could think of that was
agreeable and pleasant, except only a liberty of going home, which,
for that reason perhaps, was the only thing I desired in the world;
for the grief of one absent comfort is oftentimes capable of
embittering all the other enjoyments in the world.

Here I enjoyed the moments which I had never before known how to
employ--I mean that here I learned to look back upon a long ill-spent
life, blessed with infinite advantage, which I had no heart given me
till now to make use of, and here I found just reflections were the
utmost felicity of human life.

Here I wrote these memoirs, having to add to the pleasure of looking
back with due reflections the benefit of a violent fit of the gout,
which, as it is allowed by most people, clears the head, restores the
memory, and qualifies us to make the most, and just, and useful
remarks upon our own actions.

Perhaps when I wrote these things down I did not foresee that the
writings of our own stories would be so much the fashion in England,
or so agreeable to others to read, as I find custom and the humour of
the times has caused it to be. If any one that reads my story pleases
to make the same just reflections which I acknowledge I ought to have
made, he will reap the benefit of my misfortunes perhaps more than I
have done myself. 'Tis evident by the long series of changes and turns
which have appeared in the narrow compass of one private, mean
person's life, that the history of men's lives may be many ways made
useful and instructing to those who read them, if moral and religious
improvement and reflections are made by those that write them.

There remains many things in the course of this unhappy life of mine,
though I have left so little a part of it to speak of, that is worth
giving a large and distinct account of, and which gives room for just
reflections of a kind which I have not made yet. Particularly, I think
it just to add how, in collecting the various changes and turns in my
affairs, I saw clearer than ever I had done before how an invincible
overruling Power, a hand influenced from above, governs all our
actions of every kind, limits all our designs, and orders the events
of everything relating to us.

And from this observation it necessarily occurred to me how just it
was that we should pay the homage of all events to Him; that as He
guided, and had even made the chain of cause and consequences, which
nature in general strictly obeyed, so to Him should be given the
honour of all events, the consequences of those causes, as the first
Mover and Maker of all things.

I, who had hitherto lived, as might be truly said, without God in the
world, began now to see farther into all those things than I had ever
yet been capable of before, and this brought me at last to look with
shame and blushes upon such a course of wickedness as I had gone
through in the world. I had been bred, indeed, to nothing of either
religious or moral knowledge. What I gained of either was, first, by
the little time of civil life which I lived in Scotland, where my
abhorrence of the wickedness of my captain and comrade, and some
sober, religious company I fell into, first gave me some knowledge of
good and evil, and showed me the beauty of a sober, religious life,
though, with my leaving that country, it soon left me too; or,
secondly, the modest hints and just reflections of my steward, whom I
called my tutor, who was a man of sincere religion, good principles,
and a real, true penitent for his past miscarriages. Oh! had I with
him sincerely repented of what was past, I had not for twenty-four
years together lived a life of levity and profligate wickedness after
it.

But here I had, as I said, leisure to reflect and to repent, to call
to mind things past, and, with a just detestation, learn, as Job says,
to abhor myself in dust and ashes.

It is with this temper that I have written my story. I would have all
that design to read it prepare to do so with the temper of penitents,
and remember with how much advantage they may make their penitent
reflections at home, under the merciful dispositions of Providence, in
peace, plenty, and ease, rather than abroad, under the discipline of a
transported criminal, as my wife and my tutor, or under the miseries
and distresses of a shipwrecked wanderer, as my skipper or captain of
the sloop, who, as I hear, died a very great penitent, labouring in
the deserts and mountains to find his way home to Virginia, by the way
of Carolina, whither the rest of the crew reached after infinite
dangers and hardships; or in exile, however favourably circumstanced,
as mine, in absence from my family, and for some time in no probable
view of ever seeing them any more.

Such, I say, may repent with advantage; but how few are they that
seriously look in till their way is hedged up and they have no other
way to look!

Here, I say, I had leisure to repent. How far it pleases God to give
the grace of repentance where He gives the opportunity of it is not
for me to say of myself. It is sufficient that I recommend it to all
that read this story, that, when they find their lives come up in any
degree to any similitude of cases, they will inquire by me, and ask
themselves, Is not this the time to repent? Perhaps the answer may
touch them.

I have only to add to what was then written, that my kind friends the
Spaniards, finding no other method presented for conveying me to my
home--that is to say, to Virginia--got a license for me to come in the
next galleons, as a Spanish merchant, to Cadiz, where I arrived safe
with all my treasure; for he suffered me to be at no expenses in his
house; and from Cadiz I soon got my passage on board an English
merchantship for London, from whence I sent an account of my
adventures to my wife, and where, in about five months more, she came
over to me, leaving with full satisfaction the management of all our
affairs in Virginia in the same faithful hands as before.