MY NEW CAREER IS NOT VERY PROSPEROUS AT ITS COMMENCEMENT--I AM ROBBED,
AND ACCUSED OF BEING A ROBBER--I BIND UP WOUNDS, AND AM ACCUSED OF
HAVING INFLICTED THEM--I GET INTO A HORSE-POND, AND OUT OF IT INTO GAOL.
I had proceeded half a mile from the house, when I desired the servant
to turn into a cross-road so as to gain Brentford; and, so soon as I
arrived, the distance being only four miles, I ordered him to stop at a
public-house, saying that I would wait till the coach should pass by. I
then gave him half-a-crown, and ordered him to go home. I went into the
inn with my portmanteau, and was shown into a small back parlour; there
I remained about half an hour reflecting upon the best plan that I could
adopt.
Leaving the ale that I had called for untasted, I paid for it, and, with
the portmanteau on my shoulder, I walked away until I arrived at an old
clothes' shop. I told the Jew who kept it, that I required some
clothes, and also wanted to dispose of my own portmanteau and all my
effects. I had a great rogue to deal with; but after much chaffering,
for I now felt the value of money, I purchased from him two pair of
corduroy trowsers, two waistcoats, four common shirts, four pairs of
stockings, a smock frock, a pair of high-lows, and a common hat. For
these I gave up all my portmanteau, with the exception of six silk hand
kerchiefs, and received fifty shillings, when I ought to have received,
at least, ten pounds but I could not well help myself, and I submitted
to the extortion. I dressed myself in my more humble garments, securing
my money in the pocket of my trowsers unobserved by the Jew, made up a
bundle of the rest, and procured a stick from the Jew to carry it on,
however not without paying him three-pence for it, he observing that the
stick "wash not in de bargain." Thus attired, I had the appearance of a
countryman well to do, and I set off through the long dirty main street
of Brentford, quite undecided and indifferent as to the direction I
should take. I walked about a mile, when I thought that it was better
to come to some decision previous to my going farther; and perceiving a
bench in front of a public-house, I went to it and sat down. I looked
around, and it immediately came to my recollection that I was sitting on
the very bench on which Timothy and I had stopped to eat our meal of
pork, at our first outset upon our travels. Yes, it was the very same!
Here sat I, and there sat Timothy, two heedless boys, with the paper
containing the meat, the loaf of bread, and the pot of beer between us.
Poor Timothy! I conjured up his unhappiness when he had received my
note acquainting him with our future separation. I remembered his
fidelity, his courage in defence, and his preservation of my life in
Ireland, and a tear or two coursed down my cheek.
I remained some time in a deep reverie, during which the various
circumstances and adventures of my life passed in a rapid panorama
before me. I felt that I had little to plead in my own favour, much to
condemn--that I had passed a life of fraud and deceit. I also could not
forget that when I had returned to honesty, I had been scouted by the
world. "And here I am," thought I, "once more with the world before me;
and it is just that I should commence again, for I started in a wrong
path. At least, now I can satisfactorily assert that I am deceiving
nobody, and can deservedly receive no contumely. I am Japhet Newland,
and not in disguise." I felt happy with this reflection, and made a
determination, whatever my future lot might be, that, at least, I would
pursue the path of honesty. I then began to reflect upon another point,
which was, whither I should bend my steps, and what I should do to gain
my livelihood.
Alas! that was a subject of no little difficulty to me. A person who
has been brought up to a profession naturally reverts to that
profession--but to what had I been brought up? As an apothecary--true;
but I well knew the difficulty of obtaining employment in what is termed
a liberal profession, without interest or recommendation; neither did I
wish for close confinement, as the very idea was irksome. As a
mountebank, a juggler, a quack doctor--I spurned the very idea. It was
a system of fraud and deceit. What then could I do? I could not dig,
to beg I was ashamed. I must trust to the chapter of accidents, and
considering how helpless I was, such trust was but a broken reed. At
all events, I had a sufficient sum of money, upwards of twenty pounds,
to exist upon with economy for some time.
I was interrupted by a voice calling out, "Hilloa! my lad, come and hold
this horse a moment." I looked up and perceived a person on horseback
looking at me. "Do you hear, or are you stupid?" cried the man. My
first feeling was to knock him down for his impertinence, but my bundle
lying beside, reminded me of my situation and appearance, and I rose and
walked towards the horse. The gentleman, for such he was in appearance,
dismounted, and throwing the rein on the horse's neck, told me to stand
by him for half a minute. He went into a respectable looking house
opposite the inn, and remained nearly half an hour, during which I was
becoming very impatient, and kept an anxious eye upon my bundle, which
lay on the seat. At last he came out, and mounting his horse looked in
my face with some degree of surprise. "Why, what are you?" said he, as
he pulled out a sixpence, and tendered it to me.
I was again nearly forgetting myself, affronted at the idea of sixpence
being offered to me; but I recovered myself, saying, as I took it, "A
poor labouring man, sir."
"What, with those hands?" said he, looking at them as I took the money;
and then looking at my face, he continued, "I think we have met before,
my lad--I cannot be sure; you know best--I am a Bow Street magistrate."
In a moment, I remembered that he was the very magistrate before whom I
had twice made my appearance. I coloured deeply, and made no reply.
"Well, my lad, I'm not on my bench now, and this sixpence you have
earned honestly. I trust you will continue in the right path. Be
careful--I have sharp eyes." So saying, he rode off.
I never felt more mortified. It was evident that he considered me as
one who was acting a part for unworthy purposes; perhaps one of the
swell mob or a flash pickpocket rusticating until some hue and cry was
over. "Well, well," thought I, as I took up a lump of dirt and rubbed
over my then white hands, "it is my fate to be believed when I deceive,
and to be mistrusted when I am acting honestly;" and I returned to the
bench for my bundle, which--was gone. I stared with astonishment. "Is
it possible?" thought I. "How dishonest people are! Well, I will not
carry another for the present. They might as well have left me my
stick." So thinking, and without any great degree of annoyance at the
loss, I turned from the bench and walked away, I knew not whither. It
was now getting dark, but I quite forgot that it was necessary to look
out for a lodging; the fact is, that I had been completely upset by the
observations of the magistrate, and the theft of my bundle; and, in a
sort of brown study, from which I was occasionally recalled for a moment
by stumbling over various obstructions, I continued my walk on the
pathway until I was two or three miles away from Brentford. I was
within a mile of Hounslow, when I was roused by the groans of some
person, and it being now dark, I looked round, trying to catch by the
ear the direction in which to offer my assistance. They proceeded from
the other side of a hedge, and I crawled through, where I found a man
lying on the ground, covered with blood about the head, and breathing
heavily. I untied his neckcloth, and, as well as I could, examined his
condition. I bound his handkerchief round his head, and perceiving that
the position in which he was lying was very unfavourable, his head and
boulders being much lower than his body, I was dragging the body round
so as to raise those parts, when I heard footsteps and voices. Shortly
after, four people burst through the hedge and surrounded me.
"That is him, I'll swear to it," cried an immense stout man, seizing me;
"that is the other fellow who attacked me, and ran away. He has come to
get off his accomplice, and now we've just nicked them both."
"You are very much mistaken," replied I, "and you have no need to hold
me so tight. I heard the man groan, and I came to his assistance."
"That gammon won't do," replied one of them, who was a constable;
"you'll come along with us, and we may as well put on the _darbies_,"
continued he, producing a pair of handcuffs.
Indignant at the insult, I suddenly broke from him who held me, and
darting at the constable, knocked him down, and then took to my heels
across the ploughed field. The whole four pursued, but I rather gained
upon them, and was in hopes to make my escape. I ran for a gap I
perceived in the hedge, and sprang over it, without minding the old
adage, of "Look before you leap;" for, when on the other side, I found
myself in a deep and stagnant pit of water and mud. I sank over head,
and with difficulty extricated myself from the mud at the bottom, and
when at the surface I was equally embarrassed with the weeds at the top,
among which I floundered. In the mean time my pursuers, warned by the
loud splash, had paused when they came to the hedge, and perceiving my
situation, were at the brink of the pit watching for my coming out. All
resistance was useless. I was numbed with cold and exhausted by my
struggles, and when I gained the bank I surrendered at discretion.