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 almanack
stuck in the inside of it, and a great many papers
in it of several kinds.

We looked them over, and found there were 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 3004, payable to the bearer, and at demand; besides this, there was another note for 127. 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 goldsmith's 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, Jack;" 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 with-
out 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; when 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-Over's stairs, where we landed, and
were safe enough.

Here he turns to me; "Colonel Jack," 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, Jack," 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 3004.,

I

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 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, Jack, the money that we have got, I warrant you he should have none of that; besides," says he, "who ever he be that has lost this letter-case-to be sure, as soon as he missed it, he would run to a 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.

66

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 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. 61. 5s. in cach part; then he took 11. 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 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 awhile, my shoe hurt me so I could not go, so I was fain to sit down again,

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.

CHAPTER II.

I GET ACQUAINTED WITH ONE OF THE MOST NOTED
PICKPOCKETS IN TOWN-WE STEAL A LETTER

CASE FULL OF BILLS-DREADFULLY DISTRESSED
HOW TO DISPOSE OF MY SHARE OF THE BOOTY
-MY COMRADE PROPOSES I SHALL RETURN THE
BILLS AND GET THE REWARD PROMISED-PRO-
CEEDINGS THEREUPON.

THE subtle devil, never absent from his business,
but ready at all occasions to encourage his ser-
vants, removed ail these difficulties, and brought
me into an intimacy with one of the most ex-
quisite divers, or pick-pockets, 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 risque of being mobbed for 3s. or 4s. 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 Jack went with his gentleman, 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.

as an offence: I looked on
trade, and thought I was to
it is true, this was when I
ciety, as well as younger in
I understood it to be only
we were catched, we ran
ducked or pumped, which
then all was over; and we
ing our rags wetted a littl
stood, till a great while aft
capital, and that we might
it, till a great fellow, almo
society, was hanged for it
bly frightened, as you shal

Well, upon the persuasi
out with him; a poor inno
member my very thought
no evil in my intentions;
thing in my life; and if a
in his shop, with heaps
round me, and bade me
not have touched it; I w
subtle tempter baited his
child, in a manner suitabl
I never took this pickin
honesty, but, as I have s
it as a kind of trade that
and so I entered upon it,
in it beyond the power o
was made a thief involu
length that few boys do,
common period of that k
transport-ship, or to the
The first day I went
structor, he carried me
as we went first to the v
the long-room at the Cu
a couple of ragged boys
the worse: my leader h
neckcloth; as for me, I
nor had I spoiled my
have a hat on my head s
was now some years.

keep always in sight, ar
to him, nor to take any
till he came to me; an
pened, I should by no
tend to have anything

I observed my orde
peered into every corr
everybody, I kept my
went always at a dista
of the long-room, look

I hesitated at the matter a great while, objecting the hazard, and telling the story of Captain Jack my elder brother, as I might call him: "Well, colonel," says he, "I find you are fainthearted, 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, how-picking them up out o ever, as there is nothing for you to do, so there them, and then stickin is no risque for you to run in these things the first I had at last got forty time. If I am taken," says he, "you having my eye was upon my nothing to do in it, they will let you go free; for was very busy among it shall easily be made appear, that whatever I stood at the board, doi have done, you had no hand in it." who pass the entries,

Upon those persuasions I ventured out with him; but I soon found that my new friend was a thief of quality, and a pick-pocket above the ordinary rank, and that aimed higher abundantly than my brother Jack. He was a bigger boy than I 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

At length he comes
if he would take up
something into my ha
and follow me down
run, but shuffled alo
and went down, not
came in at, but a lit
other end of the lon
found I did, and so
as I expected, nor s

1

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 wrapt 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 say-
ing, 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, 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 frightened; 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 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 see to hide it there till I should have occasion for it. Big with 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 anything there, and I thought the people eyed me, as it were, and that two men in particular followed me to see what I intended to do.

This drove me further 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 foot-path 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 money, 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 other 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, that 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 hollo'd quite out aloud 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 violently as I did before, when I || thought I had lost it.

It would tire the reader should I dwell on all pockets," says she, "and a little fob to put your the little boyish tricks that I played, in the ecs-gold in, or your watch in, when you get it." tasy 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 him

self.

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.

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 shoe, and I knew not how; so, in a word, I gave her 2s. for the breeches, and went over into the church-yard 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 Jack'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.

"Well, young gentleman," says a man that stood at the door, "you look wishfully, do you see anything you like, and will your pocket compass a good coat now, for you look as if you be-affair, but was got out again; the case was thus: longed 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."

But in the afternoon I met him; he had been carried to Bridewell, it seems, upon that very

While I said this 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 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 mind; but when she talk'd of my being not clean, and in rags, then I cried.

46

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

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 goldsmith's 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 sixpence 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