said I, 'provided I be with you.' My father took me to the neighbouring town, and going into the yard of a small inn, he ordered out a pony and light cart which belonged to him, then paying his bill, he told me to mount upon the seat, and getting up drove away like lightning; we drove for at least six hours without stopping, till we came to a cottage by the side of a heath; we put the pony and cart into a shed, and went into the cottage, my father unlocking the door with a key which he took out of his pocket; there was nobody in the cottage when we arrived, but shortly after there came a man and a woman, and then some more people, and by ten o'clock at night there were a dozen of us in the cottage.The people were companions of my father.My father began talking to them in Latin, but I did not understand much of the discourse, though I believe it was about myself, as their eyes were frequently turned to me.Some objections appeared to be made to what he said; however, all at last seemed to be settled, and we all sat down to some food.After that, all the people got up and went away, with the exception of the woman, who remained with my father and me.The next day my father also departed, leaving me with the woman, telling me before he went that she would teach me some things which it behoved me to know.I remained with her in the cottage upwards of a week; several of those who had been there coming and going.The woman, after making me take an oath to be faithful, told me that the people whom I had seen were a gang who got their livelihood by passing forged notes, and that my father was a principal man amongst them, adding, that I must do my best to assist them.I was a poor ignorant child at that time, and I made no objection, thinking that whatever my father did must be right; the woman then gave me some instructions in the smasher's dialect of the Latin language.
I made great progress, because, for the first time in my life, I paid great attention to my lessons.At last my father returned, and, after some conversation with the woman, took me away in his cart.I shall be very short about what happened to my father and myself during two years.My father did his best to smash the Bank of England by passing forged notes, and I did my best to assist him.We attended races and fairs in all kinds of disguises; my father was a first-rate hand at a disguise, and could appear of all ages, from twenty to fourscore; he was, however, grabbed at last.He had said, as I have told you, that he should be my ruin, but I was the cause of his, and all owing to the misfortune of this here eye of mine.We came to this very place of Horncastle, where my father purchased two horses of a young man, paying for them with three forged notes, purporting to be Bank of Englanders of fifty pounds each, and got the young man to change another of the like amount; he at that time appeared as a respectable dealer, and I as his son, as Ireally was.
"As soon as we had got the horses, we conveyed them to one of the places of call belonging to our gang, of which there were several.There they were delivered into the hands of our companions, who speedily sold them in a distant part of the country.The sum which they fetched - for the gang kept very regular accounts - formed an important item on the next day of sharing, of which there were twelve in the year.The young man, whom my father had paid for the horses with his smashing notes, was soon in trouble about them, and ran some risk, as I heard, of being executed; but he bore a good character, told a plain story, and, above all, had friends, and was admitted to bail; to one of his friends he described my father and myself.This person happened to be at an inn in Yorkshire, where my father, disguised as a Quaker, attempted to pass a forged note.The note was shown to this individual, who pronounced it a forgery, it being exactly similar to those for which the young man had been in trouble, and which he had seen.My father, however, being supposed a respectable man, because he was dressed as a Quaker - the very reason, by the bye, why anybody who knew aught of the Quakers would have suspected him to be a rogue - would have been let go, had I not made my appearance, dressed as his footboy.The friend of the young man looked at my eye, and seized hold of my father, who made a desperate resistance, Iassisting him, as in duty bound.Being, however, overpowered by numbers, he bade me by a look, and a word or two in Latin, to make myself scarce.Though my heart was fit to break, Iobeyed my father, who was speedily committed.I followed him to the county town in which he was lodged, where shortly after I saw him tried, convicted, and condemned.I then, having made friends with the jailor's wife, visited him in his cell, where I found him very much cast down.He said, that my mother had appeared to him in a dream, and talked to him about a resurrection and Christ Jesus; there was a Bible before him, and he told me the chaplain had just been praying with him.He reproached himself much, saying, he was afraid he had been my ruin, by teaching me bad habits.I told him not to say any such thing, for that I had been the cause of his, owing to the misfortune of my eye.He begged me to give over all unlawful pursuits, saying, that if persisted in, they were sure of bringing a person to destruction.Iadvised him to try and make his escape, proposing, that when the turnkey came to let me out, he should knock him down, and fight his way out, offering to assist him; showing him a small saw, with which one of our companions, who was in the neighbourhood, had provided me, and with which he could have cut through his fetters in five minutes; but he told me he had no wish to escape, and was quite willing to die.I was rather hard at that time; I am not very soft now; and I felt rather ashamed of my father's want of what I called spirit.
