HISTORY

OF

MOLL FLANDERS,

WHO

WAS BORN IN NEWGATE.

and during a life of cm tinueti varieties tor threescore \ears,

Was twelve years a Whore,

Five tirres a Wife, where; f once io her OWN BROTHER !

Twelve year*, a ! hief. Was eighteen Mines in Brulewell,

Foity times in ether prisons, Fifteen times wliipt at the cart’s tail,

our times burned in the hand—Once con- demned for life,

Eight years transported to Virginia, vnd at last grewr rich,—lived honest, and

DIED A PENITENT.

STIRLING: Printed by W. Macnie.

1823.

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THE

HISTORY

LL.

(FHE most remarkable accoiint that

tan give of my parents is, that

| father wag hanged for felony and

I mother transported for the same, t she was delivered of me iu New-

: from whence I was taken uy some

;

gypsies whom I

at Colchester in

gistrates taking

me to a nurse ; v

teen years, till si

then being fan

remember, and left

Essex ; wherf* tae

compassion on me

/ith whom I live-, tl

ich time as she died,<

cied by a rich ger

woman for my fine needle-wor

shared i»a the education ofherdaugl

in learning to dance, speak French,

playing upon music,thesequalifica

together with my beauty, caused,

lady’s eldest son to pretend love t<

and at last with his alluring sp?cj

and powertul gold, his melting kij

and affectionate premises that he w|

marry me as soon as he came t

i 5

t prevailed upon me to surrender my

rrginity up to him, and to use me

hensoever he pleased; but scarce a

rai had expired before that his young-

t brother pretended love also ; in such

t open and honest manner, insomuch

at all the family took notice of it.

ow I should make a wife to him, and

; the same time be a whore to the

Jest brother, I could not tell without

;ing ruined; as loving the former to

trremity, being with child by him, but

| shore, there hippening such disputes

etweenthetwo brothers, it had like to

jive driven me from the family, but

ie eldest brother consented I should

I arry the youngest as not caring to

i arry me himself, behold I privately

;»edded him who the first night he

!*.nie so drunk to my bed, that t easily

ursuaded him he had done what his

'idest brother had done before him,

J In two years after he died, leaving

»e with twe children, who were taken

»tre of by his p arents, and having then

i tolerable good fortune in my own

inds, I married a Draper, who’ soon

as forced from me for lebt into France,

ihich obliged me to take a lodging m

6

the mint, where, in a widow’s habit

to k upon me the name of Mrs. Flal

ders. Here I -vas courted as a mistres

by several lewd men, but all these |

scorned, and it was my good fortune t

marry a gentleman whose estate was i

Virginia, and whom I deceived by prt

tending to him I was a grearer fortun

than 1 really was. But indeed h

proved a very good husband, and pr

ij'ialep with me to go over with him int®

f/irginia, where I was kindly received

py my husband’s mother. But here I

nound that our family was of the New-

iate train, she shewing me where she

vas burnt in the hand, bidding me not

vender ? for that mayor D was an

minent pick-pocket, Justice B r

vas a sliop lifter, and Tom W —-r

.iho had so narrowly escaped the nub-

ling post was there become an excel l-

; nt dissenting preacher.

!| Here I lived about three years with-

Jut having children, but not without

m inward re norse’ as knowing my

l econd husband was not dead. And

ihis set me upon returning again into

England, teasing my spouse for that

purpose, who wanted to know very

much the true reason of it. But I told

jjus mother who came to pump me,

shat her story she had told me of his

:>eing transported, confirmed rtie in the

jitelief she was my mother, who was

delivered of me in Newgate, and by

Which means she was saved from the

i allows. This very much surprised

p.er, but dreading the thoughts oi hav-

jng another child by my husband, l was

fo. :ed to disclose the matter to excu

my coldness to him in his embraces

Upon hearing this he fell into so deep

melancholy that twice he attempted t*

hang himself, but was prevented ; anc

it was with very muchdifficulty befor

I could obtain leave to return to Eng

land from him, which I did in t

month of August after eight years co:

tinuance in that country, landing

Milford Haven, in Wales, and in nin

weeks arrived at London.

Some time after i went to Badi,wher

making my circumstance? known, m

landlady lodged and -boarded me at

very cheap rate, till the spring, when

was courted by a gentleman who had

wdfe distempered in her head and I

ceived several presents from him, as

hundred guineas at one time, & fifty

another, for taking care of him in aj

illness. In short 1 found him my be

friend, taking several journies withhin

till at length he got me with child, an

was delivered of a fine boy, going b

the name of Sir Walter Cleave’s Ladf

From Bath we leturned to Ha mi

smith, near London. Six years I live:

with this gentleman, by whom I ha}i

II

|ree cbiHren, till af length he fell sick

. a house he had taken for his wife

d tarnily ar Bloomsbury. But upon

s recover v I found that I was slighted

doubt, through remorse of con-

:ence. Yet he sent me a letter with

s unk note of fifty pounds, promising

i would take care of my Little boy,

it wa: ting to getthe other fifty pounds

. him, l igned a general release, winch

t an end to this ffdr.

But it was not long bef ffc it was my

I'lrtune to get an acquaintance with a

iirk belonging to the bank, whose

i fe having made him a cuckold by

|eping company with an officer of the

niy. and after t at with an apprentice

lionging to a Draper. I ha l Jke to

iwe become his bride, pro ising on

|ir account, to get a. divorce from his

per wife.

?But whilst this was doing, going

(Jiwn into Lancashire, and being ima-

ped to be a fortune of fifteen thou-

pd pounds I was married fo an Irish

tleman, by a Romish Clergy man ;

t he finding that I had no sue;', -'fleets,

I, like a false wo nan na • ; r Seated

to him, nor he any estate more than

10

what he had spent in his equipage :

courting me.

Ke therefore lent me as much mone

as would bear my charges up to Lot

don, discharged me from the irarriagj

left a letter for me upon the table, a

went away the next morning. Bt

after he had discharged, i is servants 1

murmd at night t

C3frpam< d me as far as to Dun stab'

where weaUerward parted after mutui

instruction had pasted for our futut

course of life.

Ac London I lodged at an old mk

wife’s, as being big trhh child, wlier h

(as I had given directions) a letter wa

sent to me out of Lancashire, which ha

been directed there by the cleik of tlf s

bank : who* told me he had obtained

decreet against his wife, and he was atm

service. 1 returned an immediate answe

under a cover that I would be in tow :

the latter end of the year. And indee 1

after having opened the matter to th

midwife, and being delivered oi a fin

boy, which with much difficulty,

allowed her to dispose or, I went t:

I 11

leone, in Lancashire, and so taking

ipoach, writ a letter to my clerk to meet

-L,V*.

me at Brckhill : there in a short time

siie prevailed with me to marry him.

Ifhe next day from the window of the

ton, I beheld my Lancashire husband

with two others pass by ; when soon

j fter they were all three pursued as

I lighwaya en; but returning safely with

joy husband to town, 1 lived with-him

Exceeding happy for the space of five

ears, by whom I had t'wo children.

Afterv ards I rewarded my midwife for

er fidelity to me. But my husband’s

iler.c robbing him, it flung him into

uch a grief, that it immediately ended

12 his life, which entirely destroyed ail

my happiness.

Soon after this being reduced to very i

great extremity, I was terr pted to steal]

a small bund!-0 out of an apothecary’s

shop in Leadenhall street, in which II

found a sui- of child-bed linen, fine lace j

a silver irnig and spoons, three shillings

and other matters. Tne next thingl

which I did, I inveigled a little child 1

away, from whom I took its gold neck-j

lace, but though I had it in a private |i

plav'e, I would not kill or hurt it and !

put it in the way home again. Ano-

ther time I took cut of a shop at

Stephney, two rings, o^e adiamondnng

and the other a plain one : and as I

was once in Lombard Street, a thief

being pursued dropped a piece of Silic,

wnicn I made off with, and afterward^

disposed of to a good advantage, and

not as thieves commonly do, for a song j

Another time I stole a silver tankard f

out of an ale house, which I afterwards i

.sold to a pawn-broker, who greatly

encouraged me in such things. She j

shortly afterwards helped me to a,

mistress, who made me more expert in ;

the thieving art; but not more form

13

rate : tor first, she herself, with another

other scholars, were apprehended and

commited to Newgate, foi stealing two

pieces of cambric from a linen-draper

lin Cheapside. Both of them were con-

demned to die, but only our scholar

was executed ; for the ocher came, off

with what they call a circuit pardon

from the judge.

' I l

■■■■Rp Hi •I cannot but reflect upon one crime

I I did in taking from the hands of a gen-

itlewoman. a bundle of piate when her

I house was on fire, and conveying it to

tj my own house, and so very fortunate

was I in escaping, that I became ex-

ceeding remarkable among the thieves :

for none was so great as Moll Fianuers :

but. at length being threatened to be

impeached by some in Newgate, I cloth-

ed myself in a man’s habit, though a

smooth face (otherwise personal and tall

enough) migh. soon have betrayed rue.

Who being discovered as he >-as steal-

ing son e goods was taken, and 1 hap-

pily escaped ; I had s: metime alter this

the happiness of seeing him hanged.

14

My name was as well known at the

Old Baily, as a remarkable traitor is at

the secretary’s office. But being now

an excellent pick pocket, as well as a

strumpet, 1 took from a cull after I had

made him drunk, his gold watch, with

his silk purse of gold, fine pernwig,

sword and snuffibox : and leaping ou:

of the coach ( which stood still to let

another coach pass by ) 1 left my fool to

mourn his disaster. This success made

me follow the whoring again, but find-

ing the profit of it too small to support

me, I returned again to my old trade of

shop- lifting.

5C !

And one time as I was going along

the street through Covent-Garden,there

was a cry of stop thief, stop thief ; a

mercer’s shop having been robbed, and

Fseemed as the transgressor, and most

haugn ily insulted by the mercer and |

his -rervrtnts. In a little time they got |

the right thief, who was much in the

same habit as mine. But for this affront

I got a hundred and fifty pounds ; so

that all this, with my other substance,

might have maintained me, but I hav- |

15

i mg got an itch of thieving, could in

i no manner leave it ofh

I had an opportunity of commencing

a coiner, but that was such a beggarly

and yet so dangerous a business, that I

would never embark in it. Nor could

I ever yet be brought into the society of

i hpuse-breakers. No person could be

more dextrous in stealing gold watches

than T from the ladies* sides, either at

the park playhouse or at church, I

was also very dex rojis in gaming, an4

at one time cleared 73 guineas. I’h

f uncommon success I had, made me g

so I meddled with nothing, and a jus-

tice of the peace coining by, being cal-

led cleared me with living colpuisi

Another time, going inm a semps-

tress’ shop in Cheapside, and cheapen-

ing half a dozen o! very good holland

shifts, I doubted the length of tnem ;

upon which the sempstress slipt one of

the smoc’ss upon her, which gave me the

advantage to pin it with two or three

pins to her petticoat and taking up the ||

rest with other parcels of muslin, run a • I

way out of the shop. The sempstress

endeavouring then to pull off her

smocs, pulled up her clouts, and run-

ning af er, cryed, Stop tnief, st -p v icf,

with all she haa exposed to the pubiic;

who taking her for a mad woman, I got

clear off with my booty, an:i t he semp- >

stress was bantered to her dying day,

besides losing to the value of fifty

pounds worth of muslin.

But after happening to steal some

brocaded silk from a mercer’s shop, I

was apprehended, and being carried

before a justice, was committed to New-

gate the place of my nativity, where it

17

iis impossible for me to express the hor-

: rors of a disconsoUte mind.

Here the wretches triumphed over

me. What, said they, is Mrs. Flanders

come to Newgate, what, Mrs. Mary,

and after plain Moll Flanders. But I

was forced to content myself with this

piece of Newgate poetry.

If I swing by this string,

I shall hear the * bell ring,

And there’s an end of poor Moll.

Here I got into blessed acquaintance,

i! whose companv soon made e as hard-

i ened as themselves; and where to my

I amazement, I beheld among them my

(former Lancashire 'msband, and whose

misfortunes he placed upon my account

(Here my old tutoress had done what

she could for me 10 make up the matter

iwith my prosecutors ; for she emJea-

voured, tho’ to no purpose, to hinder

the jury from finning the bill of imlict-

ment against me. At the sessions 1 had

pleaded not guilty, but was found

* St, Sepulchre’s.

18

guilty of felony, and so received sen

tence of death accordingly.

So concerned was my poor gover-

ness that having repented herself of all

her sins, she sent me a minister also

!0I

5

!■

who represented to me these four im-

portant truths, death, judgement, hea-

ven, and hell. When the dead warrant

came down he visited me as before ;

the next day I heard the dismal toll of

St. Sepulchre’s bell, and ther was in-

formed of my reprieve, the unexpected

joy made me immediately fall into a

terrible swoon.

After this I was put on board in order

! for transportation with several other

I victims as they called us, where

iwe endured great hardships, as the first

night lying upon the bare boards, but

afterwards were allowed the liberty of

little cabins if we had any clothes to lay

in them. That night the ship fell down

into a place which they cal! Busty Hole,

fro n whence I sent a letter bv the boat-

swain, who came on shore, to my go-

20

: etness, and to my poor Lancashire hus-

band. The next day my governess sent

me a sea bed and a chest: in one draw-

er of which, was my money ; and gave

me an answer to that which I sent to |

my husband, who hoped tho’ he could

not go with me in the same ship, yet to

I see me in Virginia, but by intercession,

he was afterwards put on board with us,

where my money furnished us with

good accomodation So we tookjflike-

l wise several materials with us Fot the

work of planting; and so we sailed from

the Downs the 13th of April, and arriv-

ed safely on the coastof Virginia, where f

1 soon perceived my own son and my

brother bis father whom I had made

my husband twentv ^ears ago ; but my

mother had been dead some time before

having left a considerable plantation

to me and my heirs.

Many were the ways I pondered on

to get from the sight of my family in

these wretched circumstances ; since I

could not bear the sight of my child,

my brother and husband, who lived

near that place 1 had taken for my set-

tlement ; and upon this very account n

i we *r>oveH with all oar effects into Mary-

, land, afip?' a long and unpleasant voy-

i age, wbeieweboughtvistwoservants,an

English woman and a Negro man ; then

i a piece oi ground or fifty acres* & built

a decent hou e thereon : And indeed

our affairs went on very prosperously,

so that we looked upon one another

with pleasure, and then I obtained my

husbanu’s consent to go to Virginia, &

to discover myseiftomybrother. When

I landed I writ a !e.rer to him, telling

him ot several particular affairs, which

letter came into his son’s hand, whoask-

ing the messenger where the gentle-

woman was that wrote it, he came tome

which was about sevenjmiles off, attend-

ed by two servants on horseback, and

coming to me, kissed me, saying,1 Dear

mother are you alive ?* and then he fell

I to weeping.

He told me that his father was quite

superanuated,andbesidehimself, which

made him conceal the letter from him,

that the plantation which my mother

had left me was in his possession; so

for the produce of it he gave a hundred

pounds, engaging to be my trustee and

faithful steward. Indeed in all his

22

actions he proved a most dutiful child,

' allotting servants to wait upon me, and

treating me with as great splendour as if

I had been a sovereign princess. I

! presented him with a gold watch, and

taking my leave of him, after I had u

acquainted him that I intended to marry

, a gentleman who came over with me,

I set sail in a sloop my son had provided,

and came safe to my own plantations i

again, bringing over with me three |

saddles, some hogs, two cows, and a 1

great many other things.

When I bad related all this very

good fortune to my husband, he lifted

up his hands in an extacy of joy, and

gave thanks to heaven for this sudden

and so happy a change. Soon after

this, arrived a cargo from England,

which my governess had sent me,

with three women servants ; which

made my husband amazed, especially

when I assured him that they were

paid tor. How says he, was I deceiv-

ed when I married a wife in Lancashire

I think I married a fortune, and a good

fortune too.

23

I had taken care to buy those things

or my husband, which I knew he took

. delight to wear ; as two good long

vigs, two silver hiked swords, three or

our side fowling pieces, a fine saddle

vith holsters and pistols very handsome,

vith a scarlet cloak; and in one word,

wery thing I could think on that

night possibly oblige him and to make

tim appear (aa he really was) a very

ine gentleman, I must not omit in- j

orvning my readers that one of the

venches my governess had sent us hap-

pened to come double, having been got

Ivith child by one of the seamen in the

thip, as she owned afterwards, before

i he ship got as far as Gravesend : so

' he brought us a fine boy about seven

nonths after our landing.

After my brother’s [ or former hus-

;>and’s] 4e4th? nay sd» visited us where

jay dear husband malta him most ex- ceeding welcome |and truly no person

iould be blessed with a more dutiful

ihild. In this happy manner we lived

or the space of 26 ye.ms, resolving to

:lpend the remainder o. our da)s in a

i.ncere penitence for our wicked lives

e had lived. And this e shall do

by our extensive charity, and libera

hospitality to all men.

Thus tar we have given an account o

Moll Flanders; to which we shall adc

that we have an account trom Virgini

that she died lately, having prepare^

for that change, with the greatest pietj

and devotion. And as she perceived

her dissolution to draw near, she be|

queathed several legacies for charicablj

uses, and dying her funeral was perfor

med with great solemnity, being inter

red in St. Mary’s church in Virginia.

finis.