by Daniel Defoe
forward to thepassage, which went then through against the lower end of theHaymarket, and there I bestowed a coach upon myself, and made off, andI confess I have not yet been so good as my word, viz. to go and visitmy Lady Betty.
I was once of the mind to venture staying with Lady Betty till shemissed the watch, and so have made a great outcry about it with her,and have got her into the coach, and put myself in the coach with her,and have gone home with her; for she appeared so fond of me, and soperfectly deceived by my so readily talking to her of all her relationsand family, that I thought it was very easy to push the thing farther,and to have got at least the necklace of pearl; but when I consideredthat though the child would not perhaps have suspected me, other peoplemight, and that if I was searched I should be discovered, I thought itwas best to go off with what I had got, and be satisfied.
I came accidentally afterwards to hear, that when the young lady missedher watch, she made a great outcry in the Park, and sent her footman upand down to see if he could find me out, she having described me soperfectly that he knew presently that it was the same person that hadstood and talked so long with him, and asked him so many questionsabout them; but I gone far enough out of their reach before she couldcome at her footman to tell him the story.
I made another adventure after this, of a nature different from all Ihad been concerned in yet, and this was at a gaming-house near CoventGarden.
I saw several people go in and out; and I stood in the passage a goodwhile with another woman with me, and seeing a gentleman go up thatseemed to be of more than ordinary fashion, I said to him, 'Sir, praydon't they give women leave to go up?' 'Yes, madam,' says he, 'and toplay too, if they please.' 'I mean so, sir,' said I. And with that hesaid he would introduce me if I had a mind; so I followed him to thedoor, and he looking in, 'There, madam,' says he, 'are the gamesters,if you have a mind to venture.' I looked in and said to my comradealoud, 'Here's nothing but men; I won't venture among them.' At whichone of the gentlemen cried out, 'You need not be afraid, madam, here'snone but fair gamesters; you are very welcome to come and set what youplease.' so I went a little nearer and looked on, and some of thembrought me a chair, and I sat down and saw the box and dice go roundapace; then I said to my comrade, 'The gentlemen play too high for us;come, let us go.'
The people were all very civil, and one gentleman in particularencouraged me, and said, 'Come, madam, if you please to venture, if youdare trust me, I'll answer for it you shall have nothing put upon youhere.' 'No, sir,' said I, smiling, 'I hope the gentlemen would notcheat a woman.' But still I declined venturing, though I pulled out apurse with money in it, that they might see I did not want money.
After I had sat a while, one gentleman said to me, jeering, 'Come,madam, I see you are afraid to venture for yourself; I always had goodluck with the ladies, you shall set for me, if you won't set foryourself.' I told him, 'sir, I should be very loth to lose yourmoney,' though I added, 'I am pretty lucky too; but the gentlemen playso high, that I dare not indeed venture my own.'
'Well, well,' says he, 'there's ten guineas, madam; set them for me.'so I took his money and set, himself looking on. I ran out nine of theguineas by one and two at a time, and then the box coming to the nextman to me, my gentleman gave me ten guineas more, and made me set fiveof them at once, and the gentleman who had the box threw out, so therewas five guineas of his money again. He was encouraged at this, andmade me take the box, which was a bold venture. However, I held thebox so long that I had gained him his whole money, and had a goodhandful of guineas in my lap, and which was the better luck, when Ithrew out, I threw but at one or two of those that had set me, and sowent off easy.
When I was come this length, I offered the gentleman all the gold, forit was his own; and so would have had him play for himself, pretendingI did not understand the game well enough. He laughed, and said if Ihad but good luck, it was no matter whether I understood the game orno; but I should not leave off. However, he took out the fifteenguineas that he had put in at first, and bade me play with the rest. Iwould have told them to see how much I had got, but he said, 'No, no,don't tell them, I believe you are very honest, and 'tis bad luck totell them'; so I played on.
I understood the game well enough, though I pretended I did not, andplayed cautiously. It was to keep a good stock in my lap, out of whichI every now and then conveyed some into my pocket, but in such amanner, and at such convenient times, as I was sure he could not see it.
I played a great while, and had very good luck for him; but the lasttime I held the box, they set me high, and I threw boldly at all; Iheld the box till I gained near fourscore guineas, but lost above halfof it back in the last throw; so I got up, for I was afraid I shouldlose it all back again, and said to him, 'Pray come, sir, now, and takeit and play for yourself; I think I have done pretty well for you.' Hewould have had me play on, but it grew late, and I desired to beexcused. When I gave it up to him, I told him I hoped he would give meleave to tell it now, that I might see what I had gained, and how luckyI had been for him; when I told them, there were threescore and threeguineas. 'Ay,' says I, 'if it had not been for that unlucky throw, Ihad got you a hundred guineas.' So I gave him all the money, but hewould not take it till I had put my hand into it, and taken some formyself, and bid me please myself. I refused it, and was positive Iwould not take it myself; if he had a mind to anything of that kind, itshould be all his own doings.
The rest of the gentlemen seeing us striving cried, 'Give it her all';but I absolutely refused that. Then one of them said, 'D--n ye, jack,halve it with her; don't you know you should be always upon even termswith the ladies.' So, in short, he divided it with me, and I broughtaway thirty guineas, besides about forty-three which I had stoleprivately, which I was sorry for afterward, because he was so generous.
Thus I brought home seventy-three guineas, and let my old governess seewhat good luck I had at play. However, it was her advice that I shouldnot venture again, and I took her counsel, for I never went there anymore; for I knew as well as she, if the itch of play came in, I mightsoon lose that, and all the rest of what I had got.
Fortune had smiled upon me to that degree, and I had thriven so much,and my governess too, for she always had a share with me, that reallythe old gentlewoman began to talk of leaving off while we were well,and being satisfied with what we had got; but, I know not what fateguided me, I was as backward to it now as she was when I proposed it toher before, and so in an ill hour we gave over the thoughts of it forthe present, and, in a word, I grew more hardened and audacious thanever, and the success I had made my name as famous as any thief of mysort ever had been at Newgate, and in the Old Bailey.
I had sometime taken the liberty to play the same game over again,which is not according to practice, which however succeeded not amiss;but generally I took up new figures, and contrived to appear in newshapes every time I went abroad.
It was not a rumbling time of the year, and the gentlemen being most ofthem gone out of town, Tunbridge, and Epsom, and such places were fullof people. But the city was thin, and I thought our trade felt it alittle, as well as other; so that at the latter end of the year Ijoined myself with a gang who usually go every year to StourbridgeFair, and from thence to Bury Fair, in Suffolk. We promised ourselvesgreat things there, but when I came to see how things were, I was wearyof it presently; for except mere picking of pockets, there was littleworth meddling with; neither, if a booty had been made, was it so easycarrying it off, nor was there such a variety of occasion for businessin our way, as in London; all that I made of the whole journey was agold watch at Bury Fair, and a small parcel of linen at Cambridge,which gave me an occasion to take leave of the place. It was on oldbite, and I thought might do with a country shopkeeper, though inLondon it would not.
I bought at a linen-draper's shop, not in the fair, but in the town ofCambridge, as much fine holland and other things as came to about sevenpounds; when I had done, I bade them be sent to such an inn, where Ihad purposely taken u
p my being the same morning, as if I was to lodgethere that night.
I ordered the draper to send them home to me, about such an hour, tothe inn where I lay, and I would pay him his money. At the timeappointed the draper sends the goods, and I placed one of our gang atthe chamber door, and when the innkeeper's maid brought the messengerto the door, who was a young fellow, an apprentice, almost a man, shetells him her mistress was asleep, but if he would leave the things andcall in about an hour, I should be awake, and he might have the money.He left the parcel very readily, and goes his way, and in about half anhour my maid and I walked off, and that very evening I hired a horse,and a man to ride before me, and went to Newmarket, and from thence gotmy passage in a coach that was not
