Moll Flanders

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I left the officer overjoyed with his prize, and fully satisfied
with what he had got, and appointed to meet him at a house
of his own directing, where I came after I had disposed of the
cargo I had about me, of which he had not the least suspicion.
When I came to him he began to capitulate with me, believing
I did not understand the right I had to a share in the prize, and
would fain have put me off with #20, but I let him know that I
was not so ignorant as he supposed I was; and yet I was glad,
too, that he offered to bring me to a certainty.

I asked #100, and he rose up to #30; I fell to #80, and he rose
again to #40; in a word, he offered #50, and I consented, only
demanding a piece of lace, which I though came to about #8
or #9, as if it had been for my own wear, and he agreed to it.
So I got #50 in money paid me that same night, and made an
end of the bargain; nor did he ever know who I was, or where
to inquire for me, so that if it had been discovered that part of
the goods were embezzled, he could have made no challenge
upon me for it.

I very punctually divided this spoil with my governess, and I
passed with her from this time for a very dexterous manager
in the nicest cases. I found that this last was the best and
easiest sort of work that was in my way, and I made it my
business to inquire out prohibited goods, and after buying
some, usually betrayed them, but none of these discoveries
amounted to anything considerable, not like that I related just
now; but I was willing to act safe, and was still cautious of
running the great risks which I found others did, and in which
they miscarried every day.

The next thing of moment was an attempt at a gentlewoman's
good watch. It happened in a crowd, at a meeting-house,
where I was in very great danger of being taken. I had full
hold of her watch, but giving a great jostle, as if somebody
had thrust me against her, and in the juncture giving the watch
a fair pull, I found it would not come, so I let it go that moment,
and cried out as if I had been killed, that somebody had trod
upon my foot, and that there were certainly pickpockets there,
for somebody or other had given a pull at my watch; for you
are to observe that on these adventures we always went very
well dressed, and I had very good clothes on, and a gold watch
by my side, as like a lady as other fold.

I had no sooner said so, but the other gentlewoman cried out
'A pickpocket' too, for somebody, she said, had tried to pull
her watch away.

When I touched her watch I was close to her, but when I cried
out I stopped as it were short, and the crowd bearing her
forward a little, she made a noise too, but it was at some distance
from me, so that she did not in the least suspect me; but when
she cried out 'A pickpocket,' somebody cried, 'Ay, and here
has been another! this gentlewoman has been attempted too.'

At that very instance, a little farther in the crowd, and very
luckily too, they cried out 'A pickpocket,' again, and really
seized a young fellow in the very act. This, though unhappy
for the wretch, was very opportunely for my case, though I
had carried it off handsomely enough before; but now it was
out of doubt, and all the loose part of the crowd ran that way,
and the poor boy was delivered up to the rage of the street,
which is a cruelty I need not describe, and which, however,
they are always glad of, rather than to be sent to Newgate,
where they lie often a long time, till they are almost perished,
and sometimes they are hanged, and the best they can look for,
if they are convicted, is to be transported.

This was a narrow escape to me, and I was so frighted that I
ventured no more at gold watches a great while. There was
indeed a great many concurring circumstances in this adventure
which assisted to my escape; but the chief was, that the woman
whose watch I had pulled at was a fool; that is to say, she was
ignorant of the nature of the attempt, which one would have
thought she should not have been, seeing she was wise enough
to fasten her watch so that it could not be slipped up. But she
was in such a fright that she had no thought about her proper
for the discovery; for she, when she felt the pull, screamed out,
and pushed herself forward, and put all the people about her into
disorder, but said not a word of her watch, or of a pickpocket,
for a least two minutes' time, which was time enough for me,
and to spare. For as I had cried out behind her, as I have said,
and bore myself back in the crowd as she bore forward, there
were several people, at least seven or eight, the throng being
still moving on, that were got between me and her in that time,
and then I crying out 'A pickpocket,' rather sooner than she,
or at least as soon, she might as well be the person suspected
as I, and the people were confused in their inquiry; whereas,
had she with a presence of mind needful on such an occasion,
as soon as she felt the pull, not screamed out as she did, but
turned immediately round and seized the next body that was
behind her, she had infallibly taken me.

This is a direction not of the kindest sort to the fraternity, but
'tis certainly a key to the clue of a pickpocket's motions, and
whoever can follow it will as certainly catch the thief as he
will be sure to miss if he does not.

I had another adventure, which puts this matter out of doubt,
and which may be an instruction for posterity in the case of a
pickpocket. My good old governess, to give a short touch at
her history, though she had left off the trade, was, as I may say,
born a pickpocket, and, as I understood afterwards, had run
through all the several degrees of that art, and yet had never
been taken but once, when she was so grossly detected, that
she was convicted and ordered to be transported; but being a
woman of a rare tongue, and withal having money in her pocket,
she found means, the ship putting into Ireland for provisions,
to get on shore there, where she lived and practised her old
trade for some years; when falling into another sort of bad
company, she turned midwife and procuress, and played a
hundred pranks there, which she gave me a little history of in
confidence between us as we grew more intimate; and it was
to this wicked creature that I owed all the art and dexterity I
arrived to, in which there were few that ever went beyond me,
or that practised so long without any misfortune.

It was after those adventures in Ireland, and when she was
pretty well known in that country, that she left Dublin and
came over to England, where, the time of her transportation
being not expired, she left her former trade, for fear of falling
into bad hands again, for then she was sure to have gone to
wreck. Here she set up the same trade she had followed in
Ireland, in which she soon, by her admirable management and
good tongue, arrived to the height which I have already
described, and indeed began to be rich, though her trade fell
off again afterwards, as I have hinted before.

I mentioned thus much of the history of this woman here, the
better to account for the concern she had in the wicked life I
was now leading, into all the particulars of which she led me,
as it were, by the hand, and gave me such directions, and I so
well followed them, that I grew the greatest artist of my time
and worked myself out of every danger with such dexterity,
that when several more of my comrades ran themselves into
Newgate presently, and by that time they had been half a year
at the trade, I had now practised upwards of five years, and
the people at Newgate did not so much as know me; they had
heard much of me indeed, and often expected me there, but I
always got off, though many times in the extremest danger.

One of the greatest dangers I was now in, was that I was too
well known among the trade, and some of them, whose hatred
was owing rather to envy than any injury I had done them,
began to be angry that I should always escape when they were
always catched and hurried to Newgate. These were they that
gave me the name of Moll Flanders; for it was no more of
affinity with my real name or with any of the name I had ever
gone by, than black is of kin to white, except that once, as
before, I called myself Mrs. Flanders; when I sheltered myself
in the Mint; but that these rogues never knew, nor could I ever
learn how they came to give me the name, or what the occasion
of it was.

I was soon informed that some of these who were gotten fast
into Newgate had vowed to impeach me; and as I knew that
two or three of them were but too able to do it, I was under
a great concern about it, and kept within doors for a good
while. But my governess--whom I always made partner in my
success, and who now played a sure game with me, for that
she had a share of the gain and no share in the hazard--I say,
my governess was something impatient of my leading such a
useless, unprofitable life, as she called it; and she laid a new
contrivance for my going abroad, and this was to dress me up
in men's clothes, and so put me into a new kind of practice.

I was tall and personable, but a little too smooth-faced for a
man; however, I seldom went abroad but in the night, it did
well enough; but it was a long time before I could behave in
my new clothes--I mean, as to my craft. It was impossible to
be so nimble, so ready, so dexterous at these things in a dress
so contrary to nature; and I did everything clumsily, so I had
neither the success nor the easiness of escape that I had before,
and I resolved to leave it off; but that resolution was confirmed
soon after by the following accident.

As my governess disguised me like a man, so she joined me
with a man, a young fellow that was nimble enough at his
business, and for about three weeks we did very well together.
Our principal trade was watching shopkeepers' counters, and
slipping off any kind of goods we could see carelessly laid
anywhere, and we made several good bargains, as we called
them, at this work. And as we kept always together, so we
grew very intimate, yet he never knew that I was not a man,
nay, though I several times went home with him to his lodgings,
according as our business directed, and four or five times lay
with him all night. But our design lay another way, and it was
absolutely necessary to me to conceal my sex from him, as
appeared afterwards. The circumstances of our living, coming
in late, and having such and such business to do as required
that nobody should be trusted with the coming into our lodgings,
were such as made it impossible to me to refuse lying with him,
unless I would have owned my sex; and as it was, I effectually
concealed myself. But his ill, and my good fortune, soon put
an end to this life, which I must own I was sick of too, on
several other accounts. We had made several prizes in this
new way of business, but the last would be extraordinary.
There was a shop in a certain street which had a warehouse
behind it that looked into another street, the house making the
corner of the turning.

Through the window of the warehouse we say, lying on the
counter or showboard, which was just before it, five pieces of
silks, besides other stuffs, and though it was almost dark, yet
the people, being busy in the fore-shop with customers, had
not had time to shut up those windows, or else had forgot it.

This the young fellow was so overjoyed with, that he could
not restrain himself. It lay all within his reach he said, and he
swore violently to me that he would have it, if he broke down
the house for it. I dissuaded him a little, but saw there was no
remedy; so he ran rashly upon it, slipped out a square of the
sash window dexterously enough, and without noise, and got
out four pieces of the silks, and came with them towards me,
but was immediately pursued with a terrible clutter and noise.
We were standing together indeed, but I had not taken any of
the goods out of his hand, when I said to him hastily, 'You are
undone, fly, for God's sake!' He ran like lightning, and I too,
but the pursuit was hotter after him because he had the goods,
than after me. He dropped two of the pieces, which stopped
them a little, but the crowd increased and pursued us both.
They took him soon after with the other two pieces upon him,
and then the rest followed me. I ran for it and got into my
governess's house whither some quick-eyed people followed
me to warmly as to fix me there. They did not immediately
knock, at the door, by which I got time to throw off my disguise
and dress me in my own clothes; besides, when they came there,
my governess, who had her tale ready, kept her door shut, and
called out to them and told them there was no man come in
there. The people affirmed there did a man come in there, and
swore they would break open the door.

My governess, not at all surprised, spoke calmly to them, told
them they should very freely come and search her house, if
they should bring a constable, and let in none but such as the
constable would admit, for it was unreasonable to let in a whole
crowd. This they could not refuse, though they were a crowd.
So a constable was fetched immediately, and she very freely
opened the door; the constable kept the door, and the men he
appointed searched the house, my governess going with them
from room to room. When she came to my room she called
to me, and said aloud, 'Cousin, pray open the door; here's
some gentlemen that must come and look into your room.'

I had a little girl with me, which was my governess's grandchild,
as she called her; and I bade her open the door, and there sat
I at work with a great litter of things about me, as if I had been
at work all day, being myself quite undressed, with only
night-clothes on my head, and a loose morning-gown wrapped
about me. My governess made a kind of excuse for their
disturbing me, telling me partly the occasion of it, and that she
had no remedy but to open the doors to them, and let them
satisfy themselves, for all she could say to them would not
satisfy them. I sat still, and bid them search the room if they
pleased, for if there was anybody in the house, I was sure they
were not in my room; and as for the rest of the house, I had
nothing to say to that, I did not understand what they looked for.

Everything looked so innocent and to honest about me, that
they treated me civiller than I expected, but it was not till they
had searched the room to a nicety, even under the bed, in the
bed, and everywhere else where it was possible anything could
be hid. When they had done this, and could find nothing, they
asked my pardon for troubling me, and went down.

When they had thus searched the house from bottom to top,
and then top to bottom, and could find nothing, they
appeased the mob pretty well; but they carried my governess
before the justice. Two men swore that they saw the man
whom they pursued go into her house. My governess rattled
and made a great noise that her house should be insulted, and
that she should be used thus for nothing; that if a man did
come in, he might go out again presently for aught she knew,
for she was ready to make oath that no man had been within
her doors all that day as she knew of (and that was very true
indeed); that is might be indeed that as she was abovestairs,
any fellow in a fright might find the door open and run in for
shelter when he was pursued, but that she knew nothing of it;
and if it had been so, he certainly went out again, perhaps at
the other door, for she had another door into an alley, and so
had made his escape and cheated them all.

This was indeed probable enough, and the justice satisfied
himself with giving her an oath that she had not received or
admitted any man into her house to conceal him, or protect or
hide him from justice. This oath she might justly take, and
did so, and so she was dismissed.

It is easy to judge what a fright I was in upon this occasion,
and it was impossible for my governess ever to bring me to
dress in that disguise again; for, as I told her, I should certainly
betray myself.

My poor partner in this mischief was now in a bad case, for
he was carried away before my Lord Mayor, and by his worship
committed to Newgate, and the people that took him were so
willing, as well as able, to prosecute him, that they offered
themselves to enter into recognisances to appear at the sessions
and pursue the charge against him.

However, he got his indictment deferred, upon promise to
discover his accomplices, and particularly the man that was
concerned with him in his robbery; and he failed not to do his
endeavour, for he gave in my name, whom he called Gabriel
Spencer, which was the name I went by to him; and here
appeared the wisdom of my concealing my name and sex from
him, which, if he had ever known I had been undone.

He did all he could to discover this Gabriel Spencer; he
described me, he discovered the place where he said I lodged,
and, in a word, all the particulars that he could of my dwelling;
but having concealed the main circumstances of my sex from
him, I had a vast advantage, and he never could hear of me. He
brought two or three families into trouble by his endeavouring
to find me out, but they knew nothing of me, any more than
that I had a fellow with me that they had seen, but knew nothing
of. And as for my governess, though she was the means of his
coming to me, yet it was done at second-hand, and he knew
nothing of her.

This turned to his disadvantage; for having promised discoveries,
but not being able to make it good, it was looked upon as
trifling with the justice of the city, and he was the more fiercely
pursued by the shopkeepers who took him.

I was, however, terribly uneasy all this while, and that I might
be quite out of the way, I went away from my governess's
for a while; but not knowing wither to wander, I took a
maid-servant with me, and took the stage-coach to Dunstable,
to my old landlord and landlady, where I had lived so
handsomely with my Lancashire husband. Here I told her a
formal story, that I expected my husband every day from
Ireland, and that I had sent a letter to him that I would meet
him at Dunstable at her house, and that he would certainly
land, if the wind was fair, in a few days, so that I was come to
spend a few days with them till he should come, for he was
either come post, or in the West Chester coach, I knew not
which; but whichsoever it was, he would be sure to come to
that house to meet me.

My landlady was mighty glad to see me, and my landlord made
such a stir with me, that if I had been a princess I could not
have been better used, and here I might have been welcome
a month or two if I had thought fit.

But my business was of another nature. I was very uneasy
(though so well disguised that it was scarce possible to detect
me) lest this fellow should somehow or other find me out; and
though he could not charge me with this robbery, having
persuaded him not to venture, and having also done nothing
in it myself but run away, yet he might have charged me with
other things, and have bought his own life at the expense of
mine.

This filled me with horrible apprehensions. I had no recourse,
no friend, no confidante but my old governess, and I knew no
remedy but to put my life in her hands, and so I did, for I let
her know where to send to me, and had several letters from
her while I stayed here. Some of them almost scared me out
my wits but at last she sent me the joyful news that he was
hanged, which was the best news to me that I had heard a
great while.

I had stayed here five weeks, and lived very comfortably indeed
(the secret anxiety of my mind excepted); but when I received
this letter I looked pleasantly again, an told my landlady that
I had received a letter from my spouse in Ireland, that I had
the good news of his being very well, but had the bad news
that his business would not permit him to come away so soon
as he expected, and so I was like to go back again without him.

My landlady complimented me upon the good news however,
that I had heard he was well. 'For I have observed, madam,'
says she, 'you hadn't been so pleasant as you used to be; you
have been over head and ears in care for him, I dare say,' says
the good woman; ''tis easy to be seen there's an alteration in
you for the better,' says she. 'Well, I am sorry the esquire
can't come yet,' says my landlord; 'I should have been heartily
glad to have seen him. But I hope, when you have certain
news of his coming, you'll take a step hither again, madam,'
says he; 'you shall be very welcome whenever you please to
come.;

With all these fine compliments we parted, and I came merry
enough to London, and found my governess as well pleased
as I was. And now she told me she would never recommend
any partner to me again, for she always found, she said, that
I had the best luck when I ventured by myself. And so indeed
I had, for I was seldom in any danger when I was by myself,
or if I was, I got out of it with more dexterity than when I was
entangled with the dull measures of other people, who had
perhaps less forecast, and were more rash and impatient than
I; for though I had as much courage to venture as any of them,
yet I used more caution before I undertook a thing, and had
more presence of mind when I was to bring myself off.

I have often wondered even at my own hardiness another
way, that when all my companions were surprised and fell so
suddenly into the hand of justice, and that I so narrowly escaped,
yet I could not all this while enter into one serious resolution
to leave off this trade, and especially considering that I was
now very far from being poor; that the temptation of necessity,
which is generally the introduction of all such wickedness, was
now removed; for I had near #500 by me in ready money, on
which I might have lived very well, if I had thought fit to have
retired; but I say, I had not so much as the least inclination to
leave off; no, not so much as I had before when I had but #200
beforehand, and when I had no such frightful examples before
my eyes as these were. From hence 'tis evident to me, that
when once we are hardened in crime, no fear can affect us,
no example give us any warning.

I had indeed one comrade whose fate went very near me for
a good while, though I wore it off too in time. That case was
indeed very unhappy. I had made a prize of a piece of very
good damask in a mercer's shop, and went clear off myself,
but had conveyed the piece to this companion of mine when
we went out of the shop, and she went one way and I went
another. We had not been long out of the shop but the mercer
missed his piece of stuff, and sent his messengers, one one
way and one another, and they presently seized her that had
the piece, with the damask upon her. As for me, I had very
luckily stepped into a house where there was a lace chamber,
up one pair of stairs, and had the satisfaction, or the terror
indeed, of looking out of the window upon the noise they
made, and seeing the poor creature dragged away in triumph
to the justice, who immediately committed her to Newgate.

I was careful to attempt nothing in the lace chamber, but
tumbled their goods pretty much to spend time; then bought
a few yards of edging and paid for it, and came away very
sad-hearted indeed for the poor woman, who was in tribulation
for what I only had stolen.

Here again my old caution stood me in good stead; namely,
that though I often robbed with these people, yet I never let
them know who I was, or where I lodged, nor could they ever
find out my lodging, though they often endeavoured to watch
me to it. They all knew me by the name of Moll Flanders,
though even some of them rather believed I was she than knew
me to be so. My name was public among them indeed, but
how to find me out they knew not, nor so much as how to
guess at my quarters, whether they were at the east end of the
town or the west; and this wariness was my safety upon all
these occasions.

I kept close a great while upon the occasion of this woman's
disaster. I knew that if I should do anything that should
miscarry, and should be carried to prison, she would be there
and ready to witness against me, and perhaps save her life at
my expense. I considered that I began to be very well known
by name at the Old Bailey, though they did not know my face,
and that if I should fall into their hands, I should be treated as
an old offender; and for this reason I was resolved to see what
this poor creature's fate should be before I stirred abroad,
though several times in her distress I conveyed money to her
for her relief.

At length she came to her trial. She pleaded she did not steal
the thing, but that one Mrs. Flanders, as she heard her called
(for she did not know her), gave the bundle to her after they
came out of the shop, and bade her carry it home to her lodging.
They asked her where this Mrs. Flanders was, but she could
not produce her, neither could she give the least account of
me; and the mercer's men swearing positively that she was in
the shop when the goods were stolen, that they immediately
missed them, and pursued her, and found them upon her,
thereupon the jury brought her in guilty; but the Court,
considering that she was really not the person that stole the
goods, an inferior assistant, and that it was very possible she
could not find out this Mrs. Flanders, meaning me, though it
would save her life, which indeed was true--I say, considering
all this, they allowed her to be transported, which was the
utmost favour she could obtain, only that the Court told her
that if she could in the meantime produce the said Mrs. Flanders,
they would intercede for her pardon; that is to say, if she could
find me out, and hand me, she should not be transported. This
I took care to make impossible to her, and so she was shipped
off in pursuance of her sentence a little while after.

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