Witherington’s ascendancy was so evident, that a rival, who imagined
he had the game within reach, was seriously alarmed, and had recourse
to stratagem to free himself from such an opponent. For this purpose
he sent for Witherington, and, with every appearance of disinterested
friendship, informed him, that he had sent for him to caution him
against further intimacy with the widow, to whom he confessed he once
paid matrimonial court, but that he had thrown her completely off since
he had discovered the measure of her guilt, and congratulated himself
upon his escape. Expressing his detestation of the character of a
defamer, and solemnly avowing the purity of his motives, he informed
Witherington, that the widow was most fickle and insincere in her
attachment, as any one might have discovered at the supper party: and,
in order to gratify this wavering inclination, she had poisoned her
last husband. He entreated him then, as he valued his own happiness
and security, to desist from prosecuting his intentions farther, and
hoped Witherington would pardon the liberty he had taken; for, hearing
his acquaintance was to end in marriage, and considering the fortunate
escape he had himself made, he was bound to prevent a stranger from
being imposed upon.
Witherington at once saw the drift of his rival, and humored him
accordingly. He seemed shocked at the baseness of the widow, and joined
the other in self-congratulation. He thanked the gentleman for his
kindly warning, and told him to leave the affair to his management,
and he would soon discover the depth of her guilt; and that as they
both seemed to have one object in view, namely, the possession of her
money, they might then be able to make what use of the circumstances
they found convenient and proper. The gentleman seemed satisfied, and
they parted for the present.
Our adventurer returning to the inn, acquainted the widow with the
whole conversation between him and the gentleman. She was greatly
incensed, declared the world was very censorious, and vowed revenge
at whatever price. Witherington judging that a rupture was about to
take place, thought it high time to take advantage of the credulous
woman; so, that evening, taking her aside, he observed to her that the
best way of revenging herself upon his rival would be, if she had any
serious intention of marrying him, to show her inclination by some mark
of her favor that might distinguish him above his rival. Glad of this
opportunity, she conveyed him into a closet, where, showing him all
her money and plate, she told him that all these were at his service,
provided he could deliver her from the importunities of the gentleman.
Witherington assured her that she might depend upon him, and, taking
his leave for the night, retired to his chamber. Here he wrote the
following letter to the widow:
“MY DEAR,
“Ever mindful of what a woman says, especially one who has been
pleased to set her affections on me, I have written this letter purely
to acquaint you that, being obliged to go to London, and the journey
being pretty long, I could not do better than make use of the money
in the closet which you were so good as to say was at my service. I
was in exceeding haste when I began to write this, so that I can spare
no more time than to request you to be sure of thinking of me till my
return.
T. WITHERINGTON.”
After writing this he went privately into the widow’s closet and
secured all her ready money, which amounted to above three hundred
pounds; then, going into the stable, saddled his horse, mounted, and
rode out at the back door, leaving the family fast asleep, and the
widow and the gentleman lover to prosecute their amours as they thought
fit.
Witherington, not yet content with the spoil obtained from the parish
and from the widow, repaired to the London road, where he perpetrated
a robbery between Acton and Uxbridge; after which he was detected and
committed to Newgate, where he led a most profligate life till the day
of his execution.
He was executed with Jonathan Woodward and James Philpot, two most
notorious housebreakers, who had once before received mercy from
king James I. upon his accession to the throne. One of the name of
Elliot, the son of a respectable lady then living, was condemned at
the same time, but afterwards pardoned. This individual, thus restored
to society by the royal clemency, afterwards became a worthy citizen
and a good Christian. Out of compassion for other criminals, and in
acknowledgment of the king’s favor, his mother, upon her death-bed,
bequeathed a handsome sum to the parish of St. Sepulchre’s in London,
upon the condition of finding a man who should always, between the
hours of eleven and twelve o’clock of the night previous to the
execution of any unhappy criminal, go under Newgate, and, giving notice
of his approach by the ringing of a bell, remind the prisoners of
their approaching end, by repeating religious exhortations, tending to
prepare them for death. Witherington and his companions in death were
the first to whom these exhortations were given; and as the design
is truly benevolent, and as they are often fraught with incalculable
blessings to the guilty, we will gratify our readers by the insertion
of them, and with this close the life of Witherington.
The person appointed, after inquiring of the criminals if they are
awake, and being answered in the affirmative, proceeds thus:
“Gentlemen, I am the unwelcome messenger who comes to inform you that
to-morrow you must die. Your time is but short, the time slides away
apace, the glass runs fast, and the last sand being now about to drop,
when you must launch out into boundless eternity, give not yourselves
to sleep, but watch and pray to gain eternal life. Repent sooner than
St. Peter, and repent before the cock crows, for now repentance is the
only road to salvation; be fervent in this great duty, and without
doubt you may to-morrow be with the penitent thief in paradise. Pray
without ceasing; quench not the spirit; abstain from all appearance of
evil; as your own wickedness hath caused all this to fall upon you, and
brought the day of tribulation near at hand, so let goodness be your
sole comfort, that your souls may find perpetual rest with your blessed
Savior who died for the sins of the world; he will wipe all tears from
your eyes, remove your sorrows, and assuage your grief, so that your
sin-sick souls shall be healed for evermore. I exhort you earnestly not
to be negligent of the work of your salvation, which depends upon your
sincere devotion betwixt this and to-morrow, when the sword of justice
shall send you out of the land of the living. Fight the good fight of
faith, and lay hold of eternal life whilst you may, for there is no
repentance in the grave. Ye have pierced yourselves with many sorrows,
but a few hours will bring you to a place where you will know nothing
but joy and gladness. Love righteousness and hate iniquity, then God,
even your God, will anoint you with the oil of gladness above your
fellows. Go now boldly to the throne of grace, that ye may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. The God of peace sanctify you
wholly! and I pray God, your whole spirits, and souls, and bodies, may
be preserved blameless, until the meeting of your blessed Redeemer!
The Lord have mercy upon you! Christ have mercy upon you! Sweet Jesus
receive your souls! and to-morrow may you sup with him in paradise!
Amen! Amen!”
Next day, when they were to die, the bell on the steeple was tolled,
and the cart stopped under the churchyard wall at St. Sepulchre’s,
where the same person related from the wall the following additional
exhortation:
“Gentlemen, consider, now you are going out of this world into another,
where you will live in happiness or woe for evermore. Make your peace
with God Almighty, and let your whole thoughts be entirely bent upon
your latter end. Cursed is he that hangeth on a tree; but it is hoped
the fatal knot will bring your precious souls to a union with the great
Creator of heaven and earth, to whom I recommend your souls, in this
your final hour of distress. Lord have mercy upon you! Christ look down
upon you and comfort you! Sweet Jesus receive your souls this day into
eternal life! Amen!”
JAMES BATSON.
This famous robber was born in the first year of James the First. It
so happens (although perhaps the circumstance is no very satisfactory
evidence of the authenticity of his adventures) that he is his
own historian; we are accordingly compelled, in default of other
particulars, to lay his auto-biography before our readers.
“I suppose,” says he, “that, according to custom, the reader will
expect some relation of my genealogy, and as I am a great admirer of
fashion, I shall gratify his curiosity. My grandfather had the good
fortune to marry a woman well skilled in vaulting and rope-dancing,
and who could act her part uncommonly well. Though above fifty years
of age, and affected with the phthisic, she died in the air. To avoid
seeing other women fly as she had done, her husband would not marry
again; but diverted himself with keeping a puppet-show in Moorfields,
deemed the most remarkable that ever had been seen in that place. My
grandfather was also so little, that the only difference between him
and his puppets was, that they spoke through a trunk, and he without
one. He was, however, so eloquent, and made such lively speeches, that
his audience were never rendered drowsy. All the apple-women, hawkers,
and fish-women, were so charmed by his wit, that they would run to hear
him, and leave their goods without any guard but their own straw hats.
“My father had two trades, or two strings to his bow; he was a painter
and a gamester, and master much alike at both; for his painting could
scarcely rise so high as a sign-post, and his hand at play was of such
an ancient date, that it could scarcely pass. He had one misfortune,
which, like original sin, he entailed upon all his children; and that
was, his being born a gentleman, which is as bad as being a poet, few
of whom escape eternal poverty.
“My mother had the misfortune to die longing for mushrooms. Besides
myself she left two daughters, both very handsome and very young;
and though I was then young myself, yet I was much better skilled in
sharping than my age seemed to promise. When the funeral sermon was
preached, the funeral rites performed, and our tears dried up, my
father returned to his daubing, my sisters to their stitching, and I
was despatched to school. I had such an excellent memory, that though
my dispositions were then what they have continued to be, yet I soon
learned as much as might have been applied to better purposes than I
have done. My tricks upon my master and my companions were so numerous,
that I obtained the honorable appellation of the Little Judas. My
avaricious disposition soon appeared, and if my covetous eyes once
beheld any thing, my invention soon put it into my possession. These,
however, I could not obtain gratis, for they cost me many a boxing bout
every day. The reports of my conduct were conveyed home, and my eldest
sister would frequently spend her white hands upon the side of my pate;
and sometimes even carried her admonitions so far, as politely to
inform me, that I would prove a disgrace to the family.
“It was my good fortune, however, not to be greatly agitated by her
remonstrances, which went in at the one ear and out at the other. It
happened, however, that my adventures were so numerous, and daily
increasing in their magnitude, that I was dismissed the school with
as much solemnity as if it had been by beat of drum. After giving me
a complete drubbing, my father carried me to a barber, in order to be
bound as his apprentice. I was first sent to the kitchen, where my
mistress soon provided me with employment, by showing me a parcel of
dirty clothes, informing me, that it made part of the apprentice’s work
to clean them: ‘Jemmy,’ said she, ‘mind your heels, there’s a good
boy!’ I hung down my head, tumbled all the clouts into a trough, and
washed them as well as I could. I so managed the matter, that I was
soon discarded from my office, which was very fortunate for me, for it
would have put an end to Jemmy in less than a fortnight.
“The third day of my apprenticeship, my master having just given me
a note to receive money, there came into the shop a ruffian with a
pair of whiskers, and told my master he would have them turned up.
The journeyman not being at hand, my master began to turn them up
himself and desired me to heat the irons. I complied, and just as he
had turned up one whisker, there happened a quarrel in the street,
and my master ran out to learn the cause. The scuffle lasting long,
and my master desirous to see the end as well as the beginning of the
bustle, the spark was all the time detained in the shop, with the one
whisker ornamented, and the other hanging down like an aspen leaf. In
a harsh tone he asked me, if I understood my trade; and I, thinking
it derogatory to my understanding to be ignorant, boldly replied that
I did; ‘Why, then,’ said he, ‘turn up this whisker for me, or I shall
go into the street as I am, and kick your master.’ I was unwilling
to be detected in a lie, and deeming it no difficult matter to turn
up a whisker, never showed the least concern, but took up one of the
irons, that had been in the fire ever since the commencement of the
street bustle, and having nothing to try it on, and willing to appear
expeditious, I took a comb, stuck it into his bristly bush, and clapped
the iron to it: no sooner did they meet, than there arose a smoke, as
if it had been out of a chimney, with a whizzing noise, and in a moment
all the hair vanished. He exclaimed furiously, ‘Thou son of a thousand
dogs! dost thou take me for St. Lawrence, that thou burnest me alive!’
With that he let fly such a bang at me, that the comb dropped out of my
hand, and I could not avoid, in the fright, laying the hot iron close
along his cheek: this made him give such a shriek as shook the whole
house, and he, at the same time, drew his sword to send me to the other
world. I, however, recollecting the proverb, that ‘One pair of heels is
worth two pair of hands,’ ran so nimbly into the street, and fled so
quickly from that part of the town, that though I was a good runner, I
was amazed when I found myself about a mile from home, with the iron in
my hand, and the remainder of the whisker sticking to it. As fortune
would have it, I was near the dwelling of the person who was to pay the
note my master gave me: I went and received the money, but deemed it
proper to detain it in lieu of my three days’ wages.
“This money was all exhausted in one month, when I was under the
necessity of returning to my father’s house. Before arriving there, I
was informed, that he was gone to the country to receive a large sum
of money which was due him, and therefore went boldly in, as if the
house had been my own. My grave sisters received me very coldly, and
severely blamed me for the money which my father paid for my pranks.
Maintaining, however, the honor of my birthright, I kept them at
considerable distance. The domestic war being thus prolonged, I one day
lost temper, and was resolved to make them feel the consequences of
giving me sour beer; and, though the dinner was upon the table, I threw
the dish at my eldest sister, and the beer at the younger, overthrew
the table, and marched out of doors on a ramble. Fortunately, however,
I was interrupted in my flight by one who informed me, that my father
was dead, and in his testament had very wisely left me sole heir and
executor. Upon this I returned, and soon found the tones and tempers
of my sisters changed, in consequence of the recent news. I sold the
goods, collected the debts, and feasted all the rakes in town, until
not one farthing remained.
“One evening, a party of my companions carried me along with them,
and, opening the door of a certain house, conveyed from thence some
trunks, which a faithful dog perceiving, he gave the alarm. The people
of the house attacked the robbers, who threw down their burdens to
defend themselves: meanwhile, I skulked into a corner all trembling.
The watch made their appearance, and seeing three trunks in the street,
two men dangerously wounded, and myself standing at a small distance,
they seized me as one concerned in the robbery. Next day I was ordered
to a place of confinement, and could find no friend to bail me from
thence. In ten days I was tried, and my defences being frivolous and
unsatisfactory, I was about to be hoisted up by the neck, and sent out
of the world in a swinging manner, when a reprieve came, and in two
months a full pardon.
“After this horrible fright, (for I was not much disposed to visit
the dwelling of my grandfather,) I commenced travelling merchant,
and, according to my finances, purchased a quantity of wash-balls,
toothpicks, and tooth-powders. Pretending that they came from Japan,
Peru, or Tartary, and extolling them to the skies, I had a good sale,
particularly among the gentry of the playhouse. Upon a certain day, one
of the actresses, a beautiful woman of eighteen, and married to one
of the actors, addressed me, saying, ‘she had taken a liking to me,
because I was a confident, sharp, forward youth; and therefore, if I
would serve her, she would entertain me with all her heart; and that,
when the company were strolling, I might beat the drum and stick up
the bills.’ Deeming it an easier mode of moving through the world, I
readily consented, only requesting two days to dispose of my stock, and
to settle all my accounts.
“In my new profession my employments were various, some of which,
though not very pleasant, I endeavored to reconcile myself to, inasmuch
as they were comparatively better than my former. In a little time, I
became more acquainted with the tempers of my master and mistress, and
became so great a favorite, that fees and bribes replenished my coffers
from all expectants and authors who courted their favor. Unfortunately,
however, one day, in their absence, I was invited by some of the party
to take a walk, and, going into a tavern, commenced playing at cards,
till my last farthing was lost. Determined, if possible, to be revenged
of my antagonist, I requested time to run home for more money: it was
readily granted. I ran and seized an article belonging to my mistress,
pawned it for a small sum, which soon followed my other stores. But
evils seldom come alone: I was in this situation not only deprived of
my money, but also obliged to decamp.”
The next adventure of Batson was to enlist as a soldier. It happened,
however, that his captain cheating him out of his pay, caused a
grievous quarrel. Batson soon found that it was dangerous to reside
in Rome and strive with the pope. His captain, upon some pretence of
improper conduct, had him apprehended, tried, and condemned to be
hanged. The cause of this harsh treatment was a very simple one: “For,”
says Batson, “I was one day drinking with a soldier, and happened
to fall out about a lie given. My sword unluckily running into his
throat, he kicked up his heels, through his own fault, for he ran upon
my point, so that he may thank his own hastiness.” Upon this our hero
says, “As if it had been a thing of nothing, or as a matter of pastime,
they gave sentence that I should be led in state along the streets,
then mounted upon a ladder, kick up my heels before all the people,
and take a swing in the open air, as if I had another life in my
knapsack. A notary informed me of this sentence, who was so generous
that he requested no fee, nor any expenses for his trouble during the
trial. The unfeeling gaoler desired me to make my peace with my Maker,
without giving me one drop to cheer my desponding heart. Informed of
my melancholy condition, a compassionate friar came to prepare me for
another world, since the inhabitants of this were so ready to bid me
farewell. When he arrived, he inquired for the condemned person. I
answered, ‘Father, I am the man, though you do not know me.’ He said,
‘Dear child, it is now time for you to think of another world, since
sentence is passed, and, therefore, you must employ the short time
allowed you in confessing your sins, and asking forgiveness of your
offences.’ I answered, ‘Reverend father, in obedience to the commands
of the church, I confess but once in the year, and that is in Lent;
but if, according to the human laws, I must atone with my life for
the crime I have committed, your reverence, being so learned, must be
truly sensible that there is no divine precept which says, “Thou shall
not eat or drink;” and therefore, since it is not contrary to the law
of God, I desire that I may have meat and drink, and then we will
discourse of what is best for us both; for I am in a Christian country,
and plead the privilege of sanctuary.’
“The good friar was much moved at finding me so jocular when I ought to
be so serious, and began to preach to me a loud and a long sermon upon
the parable of the lost sheep, and the repentance of the good thief.
But the charity bells that ring when criminals are executed knolling in
mine ears, made a deeper impression than the loud and impressive voice
of the friar. I therefore kneeled down before my ghostly father, and
cleared the store-house of my sins, and poured forth a dreadful budget
of iniquity. He then gave me his blessing, and poor Batson seemed
prepared to take his flight from a world of misfortunes and insults.
“But, having previously presented a petition to the marquis D’Este,
then commanding officer, he at that critical moment called me before
him. He, being a merciful man, respited my sentence, and sent me to the
galleys for ten years. Some friends farther interfered, and informed
the marquis, that the accusation and sentence against me were effected
by the malice of the captain, who was offended because I had insisted
for the whole of my listing money. The result was that he ordered me to
be set at liberty, to the disappointment of my captain, together with
that of the multitude and the executioner.
“The deadly fright being over, and my mind restored to tranquillity,
I went forth to walk, and to meditate upon what method I was now to
pursue in the rugged journey of life. Every man has his own fortune,
and, as good luck would have it, I again met with a recruiting officer,
who enlisted me, and, from partiality, took me home to his own
quarters. The cook taking leave of the family, I was interrogated if I
understood any thing in that line. To this I replied, as usual, in the
affirmative, and was accordingly installed into the important office of
a cook.