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THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY
BERNARD MANDEVILLE,
_AN ENQUIRY_
INTO THE CAUSES
OF THE
FREQUENT EXECUTIONS
AT
_TYBURN_.
(1725)
_INTRODUCTION_
BY MALVIN R. ZIRKER, JR.
[Illustration]
PUBLICATION NUMBER 105
WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES
1964
GENERAL EDITORS
Richard C. Boys, _University of Michigan_
Earl R. Miner, _University of California, Los Angeles_
Maximillian E. Novak, _University of California, Los Angeles_
Lawrence Clark Powell, _Wm. Andrews Clark Memorial Library_
ADVISORY EDITORS
John Butt, _University of Edinburgh_
James L. Clifford, _Columbia University_
Ralph Cohen, _University of California, Los Angeles_
Vinton A. Dearing, _University of California, Los Angeles_
Arthur Friedman, _University of Chicago_
Louis A. Landa, _Princeton University_
Samuel H. Monk, _University of Minnesota_
Everett T. Moore, _University of California, Los Angeles_
James Sutherland, _University College, London_
H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., _University of California, Los Angeles_
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY
Edna C. Davis, _Clark Memorial Library_
INTRODUCTION
The _Enquiry into the Causes of the Frequent Executions at Tyburn_ was
originally published as a series of letters to the _British Journal_.
The first letter appeared on February 27, 1725;[1] just twelve days
before, Jonathan Wild, self-proclaimed "Thief-Catcher General of _Great
Britain_ and _Ireland_," had been arrested and imprisoned in Newgate.
Thus the _Enquiry_ had a special timeliness and forms a part of the
contemporary interest in the increasingly notorious activities of Wild.
Wild's systematic exploitation of the London underworld and his callous
betrayal of his colleagues in criminality (he received L40 from the
government for each capital conviction he could claim) had created
public protest since at least 1718 when an act (which Mandeville cites
in his Preface) directed against receivers of stolen goods was passed,
most probably with the primary intention of curtailing Wild's
operations. Wild's notoriety was at its peak in 1724-5 after his
successful apprehension of Joseph Blake ("Blueskin") and Jack Sheppard,
the latter figure becoming a kind of national hero after his five
escapes from prison (he was recaptured by Wild each time).[2]
The timeliness of Mandeville's pamphlet extends, of course, beyond its
interest in Jonathan Wild, who after all receives comparatively little
of Mandeville's attention. The spectacle of Tyburn itself and the civil
and moral failures it represented was one which Londoners could scarcely
ignore and which for some provided a morbid fascination. Mandeville's
vivid description of the condemned criminal in Newgate, his journey to
Tyburn, and his "turning off," must have been strikingly forceful to his
contemporaries, who knew all too well the accuracy of his description.
"Tyburn Fair" was a holiday. Apprentices deserted their posts,
pickpockets, dram-dealers and other free-lance caterers, prostitutes,
grub-street elegiasts armed with dying speeches or commemorative verses,
went to theirs, to swell the enormous and unruly holiday mob, a mob
given a certain tone by the presence of the respectable or aristocratic
curious (Boswell says "I must confess that I myself am never absent from
a public execution") who came in their coaches or even rode along with
the condemned in his cart. The mob at Tyburn reached enormous
proportions. Thirty thousand people witnessed an execution in 1776;
eighty thousand an execution in Moorfields in 1767.[3] Richardson, in
_Familiar Letters on Important Occasions_ (Letter CLX) refers to the
"pressure of the mob, which is prodigious, nay, almost incredible."
When such popular madness was climaxed by the generally unrepentant
criminal's drunken bravado (Richardson's criminals "grew most shamefully
daring and wanton.... They swore, laugh'd and talked obscenely"[4]), and
by their glorification by the mob (according to Fielding the criminal at
Tyburn was "triumphant," and enjoyed the "compassion of the meek and
tender-hearted, and ... the applause, admiration, and envy, of all the
bold and hardened"[5]), serious-minded men rightly wondered what valid
end the execution of the law served. And of course it was not merely
that the criminal died unrepentant or that the spectators remained
unedified and undeterred. The scene at Tyburn also reflected society's
failure to utilize a significant portion of its "most useful members," a
failure disturbing to the dominant mercantile attitude of the time which
valued "the bodies of men" as potential sources of wealth (Mandeville's
concern with the usefulness of the lower class is obvious throughout the
first part of the _Fable of the Bees_ and in the _Essay on Charity, and
Charity-schools_).
Mandeville's subject, then, was one familiar to his readers and one
whose importance they recognized. His attitude toward his subject was
for the most part a thoroughly conventional one. For instance, his
primary assumption that the penal code must be harsh since its function
is to deter, not to reclaim, pervades eighteenth-century thought on the
subject and is clearly reflected in the number of offences carrying the
death penalty (160 when Blackstone wrote; 220 in the early nineteenth
century). Its logical culmination may be found in arguments such as
George Ollyffe presented in 1731. Ollyffe, noting that the frequency of
the death penalty was not deterring criminals, suggests that more
horrible forms of punishment be devised, such as breaking on the wheel,
"by which the Criminals run through ten thousand thousand of the most
exquisite Agonies ... during the unconceivable Torture of their
bruised, broken, and disjointed Limbs," or "twisting a little Cord hard
about their Arms or Legs," which would produce the "keenest Anguish."[6]
Ollyffe's public-spirited ingenuity should be a warning to modern
readers who assume that Mandeville's attitude is unusually harsh and
unfeeling.
Most of Mandeville's specific proposals too may be paralleled in the
many pamphlets of the time concerned with the criminal and the lower
class. To point out some of the similarities between Mandeville's and
Fielding's proposals (which he states most fully in _An Enquiry into the
late Increase of Robbers_, 1751) is not to posit direct influence but to
suggest the uniformity of opinion on these matters during many years.
Both Mandeville and Fielding argue for closer control over receivers of
stolen goods, against advertising in the paper to recover stolen goods,
against the false compassion of the tender-hearted who fail to prosecute
or of juries which fail to convict the guilty, against the
indiscriminate imprisonment of young with old, hardened criminals with
first offenders, men with women, and against frequent pardons. They
agree in demanding that the condemned should meet his death, soberly,
shortly after his conviction.[7]
Mandeville's suggestion that the bodies of the executed be turned over
to surgeons for dissection is not to be found in Fielding's pamphlet. It
does, however, become a part of the "Act for preventing the horrid Crime
of Murder" (25 Geo. II. c. 37), an act for which Fielding is often given
credit.[8] This suggestion, and that in Chapter VI to trade felons into
slavery (which as far as I know is Mandeville's own), clearly stem from
the impulse to increase the deterrent power of the law by making it more
terrible.
What distinguishes Mandeville's pamphlet (in addition to the
characteristically hard-headed bluntness of its author) is a quality
present in one degree or another in all his work: an exuberant delight
in creating scene. Throughout the _Fable of the Bees_, for example, but
especially in the first part, the argument is punctuated by vivid scenes
in which an idea is acted out or illustrated. Invariably these scenes
have a merit and interest beyond that owing to their function in the
argument. They are lively, vivid, picturesque, humorous or touching in
their own right. The reader can scarcely doubt that Mandeville enjoyed
composing them--he admits as much in the Preface to the _Enquiry_ when
he acknowledges, in defending the "lowness" of his subject, the
"Pleasure there is in imitating Nature in what Shape soever."
The gusto and vitality of the description of the events at Tyburn well
illustrate Mandeville's art. He puts us on the scene, lets us see and
hear the various actors, gives us telling detail: a bully rolling in the
mire; a putrified wig; a drunken old woman on a bulk; refuse flying
through the air; trollops in rags; a gin seller "squeez'd up in a
corner"; carcasses of dogs and cats. The scene is filled with objects
and has movement as well: the mob is a torrent which "bursts through the
gate," a "floating multitude." There is "jostling," "kicking dirt,"
"rolling"; peddlers "stir about," and one who has "ventured in the
Middle of the Current" is "fluctuating in the irregular Stream." The air
is filled with "oaths and vile expressions," and "loud laughter"; a
peddler "tears his Throat with crying his commodity." Mandeville orders
his scene spatially and chronologically, and he enforces its vividness
by relating the action in the present tense. Its basic unity, however,
is owing to the evaluation and control provided by the various tones of
the narrator's voice, which is alternately scornful and disgusted
("abandoned Rakehells") and almost playfully ironic ("he is the
prettiest Fellow among them who is the least shock'd at Nastiness";
"their darling Cordial, the grand Preservative of Sloth, Jeneva").
For one reader at least Mandeville is eminently successful in capturing
what must have been the appalling uproar and the dismaying quality of
the events at Tyburn. His vivid, circumstantial realism sets the
_Enquiry_ apart, as far as I know, from all other pamphlets dealing with
this sorry subject. If his views for the most part are conventional, his
style and technique are not, and in this respect the _Enquiry_ is best
compared not with other pamphlets but with Hogarth's portrayal of the
demise of the idle apprentice (Plate XI of the _Industrious and Idle
Apprentice_, 1747), in which Hogarth represents visually many of the
same details which Mandeville reports and in which he conveys a
comparable sense of the violent and brutal activity of the Tyburn mob.
FOOTNOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION
[Footnote 1: See "A Note on the Text" below.]
[Footnote 2: A useful account of Wild's career and fame appears in
William R. Irwin's _The Making of Jonathan Wild_ (New York, 1941), pp.
3-32.]
[Footnote 3: The figures are taken from Leon Radzinowicz' _A History of
English Criminal Law_ (New York, 1948-56), vol. I, p. 175, n. 45.]
[Footnote 4: Compare the hero of Swift's "_Clever_ Tom Clinch _going to
be hanged_" (1726), "Who hung like a Hero, and never would flinch." He
"Rode stately through _Holbourn_, to die in his Calling," and adjured
his friends to "Take Courage, dear Comrades, and be not afraid, / Nor
slip this Occasion to follow your Trade."]
[Footnote 5: Henry Fielding, "An Enquiry into the Causes of the late
Increase of Robbers," _Works_, ed. Henley (London, 1903), vol. 13, p.
122. Fielding might have added that the criminal-hero also enjoyed the
amorous admiration of the fair: when clever Tom Clinch rode by "The
Maids to the Doors and the Balconies ran, / And said, lack-a-day! he's a
proper young Man"; according to Mrs. Peachum "The youth in his cart hath
the air of a lord, / And we cry, There dies an Adonis!"]
[Footnote 6: George Ollyffe, _An Essay Humbly Offer'd, for an Act of
Parliament to prevent Capital Crimes, and the Loss of many Lives; and to
Promote a desirable Improvement and Blessing in the Nation_, second
edition, (London, 1731), p. 8.]
[Footnote 7: Fielding's and Mandeville's positions may be compared to
that of an anonymous pamphleteer writing in 1701: "I might add, that it
were not amiss, if after Condemnation they were allowed nothing but
Bread and Water; a good way to humble them, and bring them to a sense of
their Condition, as to a future state, and to put a stop to their
murthering their Keepers, and attempting to break Gaol. And it were
well, if a Particular Habit (Black the most proper Colour) were assigned
them, at least at their Executions; and that they might not be suffered
to make their Exits in gay Clothes (as they sometimes do like Men that
Triumph) but rather as becomes Those, who are just going to undergo the
Curse of the Law, and that are intended to be a Warning to Others." R.
J., _Hanging not punishment enough, for Murtherers, High-way Men, and
House-Breakers_, p. 21.]
[Footnote 8: Both the criminal and the "mob" detested the anatomists. In
the British Journal of March 20, 1725--one of the issues in which
Mandeville's letters appeared--a captured murderer is reported to have
said "d----n my Soul; but I desire I may not be Anatomiz'd." In the same
issue is recorded a mob's assault on a doctor whom they suspected,
rightly it seems, of grave-robbing. He was forced to flee for his life
and his stable was "pulled down."]
A NOTE ON THE TEXT
The letters (which Mandeville tells us were composed before Wild's
capture) appeared in nos. 128-133 of the _British Journal_ (Feb. 27,
Mar. 6, Mar. 13, Mar. 20, Mar. 27, and Apr. 3, 1725). The differences
between the text of the newspapers and that of the pamphlet have some
significance, for what alterations there are suggest that Mandeville was
a fairly careful editor. The Preface to the pamphlet is entirely
new--its addition is one of several changes Mandeville made to put the
articles in pamphlet form. He also, for example, added a Table of
Contents, and gave headings to each chapter and, in one instance,
changed "Papers" to "Chapters."
Throughout minor changes (not clearly purposeful) in punctuation,
italicization, and capitalization occur, and occasionally a word is
changed ("Holland" becomes "Leyden," p. 27) or a word is inserted ("none
of them should" becomes "none of them likewise should," p. 13), but only
three changes may be called substantial. (1) In the first newspaper
article the following sentence appeared in the text in brackets after
the footnoted sentence on p. 3 of the pamphlet: "Here I beg leave to
observe, that the greatest Part of this Treatise was wrote some Months
before Jonathan Wild was apprehended; and that as nothing was said of
him, but what may be equally applied to any one, who either now follows,
or shall take upon him the same Employment, I keep to the original
Manuscript, imagining the Reader will be better pleased to see the
Author's Sentiments concerning Jonathan, and the Trade he drove before
his Commitment, than any Alterations that might be expected from
what has happen'd since." (2) The phrase on p. 17, "with Applause,
and repeated with Impunity," corrects the newspaper version "with
Impunity, and repeated with Applause." (3) On p. 25, lines 3 through
17 appear only in the pamphlet, the newspaper version reading merely
"... of Course, we seldom meet with any Thing that is edifying, or
moving."
The pamphlet is reproduced from the copy at the Huntington Library.
AN
ENQUIRY
INTO THE
CAUSES
OF THE
FREQUENT EXECUTIONS
AT
_TYBURN_:
AND
_A_ PROPOSAL _for some_ REGULATIONS _concerning_
FELONS _in_ PRISON, _and the good
Effects to be Expected from them_.
To which is Added,
A Discourse on TRANSPORTATION, and a Method
to render that Punishment more Effectual.
By _B. MANDEVILLE_, M.D.
_Oderunt peccare Mali formidine Poenae._
_LONDON_,
Printed: And Sold by _F. Roberts_ in _Warwick-Lane_.
MDCCXXV.
[Illustration]
THE
PREFACE
The Design of this small Treatise, is to lessen if not prevent the
common Practice of Thieving, and save many Lives of the loose and
indigent Vulgar, of which now such great Numbers are yearly lavish'd
away for Trifles. In order to this, I have endeavour'd to set in a true
Light the destructive Consequences of _Theftbote_, and the Damage the
Publick sustains from the Trade that is drove by Thiefcatchers, and the
various ways now in vogue of compounding Felonies, by which the Safety
as well as Maintenance of Thieves and Pilferers are industriously taken
care of, and the Laws that enforce Prosecution altogether eluded.
To the same Purpose I have pointed at the Licentiousness and other
Disorders of _Newgate_, arising from the wrong Method we have of
treating common Felons in Prison. I have describ'd the Transactions of
Execution Day, with the Procession to _Tyburn_, and demonstrated what
small Advantage they are of, as well to the condemn'd themselves, whose
grand Affair it is to prepare themselves for another World, as to their
Companions who should be deterred, or the rest of the Spectators, who
should be struck with the Awfulness of the Solemnity. I have likewise
searched into the Origin of Courage, and the wrong Judgments that are
differently pass'd on the dying Behaviour of Malefactors, shew'd the ill
Consequences as well as Absurdity of our mistaking Drunkenness for
Intrepidity, and a senseless Deportment for Undauntedness; and touch'd
on the several Neglects and Mismanagements that are accessary, and one
way or other contribute to the Encrease and Support of Felons, and
consequently, the Frequency of Executions. Afterwards I have in a
Chapter by it self offer'd some Proposals for a better Usage, and more
proper Treatment of common Felons in Confinement, and made a Pathetical
Representation of the good Effects we might probably expect from such
wholesome Regulations. To these I have added a Discourse on
Transportation, and a Method of rendering that Punishment not only more
effectual on the Criminals, but likewise advantagious to the Publick in
the most extraordinary manner.
I am not so vain as to place any Merit in the Performance, or promise my
self the Applause of many: on the contrary, I expect to be censur'd, and
perhaps deservedly, for the uncouth Decorations I have intermix'd with
my Subject. Men of Taste and Politeness will think themselves very
little oblig'd to me for entertaining them with the meanest and most
abject part of low Life, for almost a whole Chapter together; and tell
me that the Inside of _Newgate_, either on an Execution Day, or any
other, is not a Scene they ought to be troubled with; and that the
Exactness of a Picture among the Judicious is of little Worth where the
noble manner is wanting. To this I could answer that, if I have
trespassed against the Laws either of Elegance or Formality, I was
forc'd to it by what is superior to all Laws, Necessity. When a Man is
to inspire his Readers with an Aversion to what they are unacquainted
with, he can never compass his End without furnishing them first with a
general Idea of the Thing against which he wou'd raise their
Indignation: I could add that, when a Piece is lively and tolerably
finish'd, the good-natured Critick will pardon the Meaness of the
Design, for the sake of the Colouring and the Application of the Master.
But if neither of these Excuses are thought sufficient, I must plead
guilty, and confess that the Pleasure there is in imitating Nature in
what Shape soever is so bewitching, that it over-rules the Dictates of
Art, and often forces us to offend against our own Judgment.
As there are in this City not a few Men of Business and good
Understanding, whose Leisure allows them not to read much beyond the
Publick News, and most of them are concern'd in the Contents of this
Pamphlet, I caused the several Chapters of it to be Printed in as many
Papers of the _British_ Journal; imagining that its having been
dispers'd, and, as it were, advertis'd in that manner, could give no
Offence to the more Curious, who would chuse to have it entire by it
self, and peruse it in a Character less troublesome to the Eyes.
In the first Chapter I should have taken notice of a Clause in an Act of
Parliament that was made in the Fourth Year of His present Majesty, and
is call'd, _An Act for the further Preventing Robbery, Burglary, and
other Felonies_, &c. The candid Reader I hope will pardon the Neglect,
occasion'd by the small Acquaintance I have with the Law, and give me
leave in this Place to repair that Omission. The Words are these.
And whereas there are several Persons who have secret Acquaintance
with Felons, and who make it their Business to help Persons to their
stollen Goods, and by that Means gain Money from them, which is
divided between them and the Felons, where-by they greatly encourage
such Offenders: Be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That
whenever any Person taketh Money or Reward, directly or indirectly,
under Pretence, or upon account of helping any Person or Persons to
any stollen Goods or Chattels, every such Person so taking Money or
Reward, as aforesaid (unless such Person doth apprehend, or cause to
be apprehended such Felon who stole the same, and cause such Felon
to be brought to his Trial for the same, and give Evidence against
him) shall be guilty of Felony, and suffer the Pains and Penalties
of Felony, according to the felony committed in stealing such Goods,
and in such and the same manner, as if such Offender had himself
stole such Goods and Chattels, in the manner and with such
Circumstances as the same were stollen.
Since the Printing of these Chapters, in the Paper aforesaid, I have
likewise been inform'd; that, as receiving Money for assisting others in
the Recovery of their stolen Goods, is by this Act made Felony; so by
the known Rules of Law, whoever is aiding and assisting thereto is of
Course guilty as an Accessary, and to incurr the same Punishment as the
Principal: and it cannot be doubted; but that he, who pays Money on such
an Occasion, is accessary to the Receiving of it; which well deserves
the Reflection of those who make no Scruple of redeeming the Goods that
had been stolen from them; as likewise does another Thing, which is,
that if he who takes Money for stolen Goods is a principal Felon, and
that he who pays it is a Felon, as being accessary, then he who by
publick Advertisements with Promises of Secrecy, and that no Questions
shall be asked, invites others to commit Felony, is guilty of a great
Misdemeanour, tho' it produce no Effect; but, if it do, the Person
publishing such Advertisement will be an Accessary likewise.
[Illustration]
THE
CONTENTS.
CHAP. I.
OF THEFTBOTE; _or, the Crime
of Compounding of Felony_. Page 1
CHAP. II.
_Of the ill Consequences of_ THEFTBOTE,
_and the Licentiousness of Felons in_
Newgate. 9
CHAP. III.
_Of Execution Day, the Journey to_ Tyburn,
and _a Word in behalf of Anatomical
Dissections._ 18
CHAP. IV.
_Of the wrong Judgments that are pass'd
on the dying Behaviour of Malefactors._ 28
CHAP. V.
_Of Regulations concerning_ FELONS _in
Prison, and the good Effects to be expected
from them._ 37
CHAP. VI.
_Of_ TRANSPORTATION: _And a
Method to render that Punishment more
effectual._ 46
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
CHAP. I.
_Of_ THEFTBOTE; _or, the Crime of Compounding of Felony._
The Multitude of unhappy Wretches, that every Year are put to Death for
Trifles in our great Metropolis, has long been afflicting to Men of Pity
and Humanity; and continues to give great Uneasiness to every Person,
who has a Value for his Kind. Many good Projects have been thought of to
cure this Evil, by sapping the Foundation of it: A Society has been set
up to reform our Manners; and neither Workhouses, nor Discipline on
small Crimes, have been wanting: An Act has been made against prophane
Cursing and Swearing; and many Charity Schools have been erected. But
the Event has not answer'd hitherto the good Design of those Endeavours.
This City abounds as much with loose, lazy, and dishonest Poor; there
is as much Mischief done by ordinary Felons; and Executions for Theft
and Burglary are as frequent, at least, as ever: Nay, it is believed,
that _London_ is more pester'd with low Villany than any other Place
whatever, the Proportion of Bigness between them not left unconsider'd.
As there is no Effect without a Cause, so something must be the Reason
of this Calamity. I have long and carefully examined into this Matter,
and am forced to ascribe the Mischief complained of to two palpable
Evils, distinct from those we have in common with other large overgrown
Cities. One regards Prosecutions; the other the Treatment that is given
to Malefactors after they are taken. I shall begin with the first: I
mean the Neglect of them, occasion'd by our shameful Negotiations with
Thieves, or their Agents, for the Recovery of stolen Goods, by which, in
Reality, we become Aiders and Abetters to them.
The Law of _England_ is so tender of Mens Lives, that whoever justly
prosecutes, and convicts a Person of a Capital Crime, has nothing to
answer for to his Conscience, but, on the contrary, has done a Service
to his Country, without Offence to God, or the least Breach of Charity
to his Neighbour. But as every Body has not Strength of Mind and
Resolution enough to perform Duties that are repugnant to his Nature,
so, making Allowances for Human Frailties, I could excuse the
Backwardness of a meek home-bred Person, who should complain, That to
appear in open Court, and speak before a Judge, are terrible Things to
him. But I think it unpardonable, that a Man should knowingly act
against the Law, and by so doing powerfully contribute to the Increase,
as well as Safety and Maintenance, of Pilferers and Robbers, from no
other Principle, than a criminal Selfishness, accompany'd with an utter
Disregard to the Publick: Yet nothing is more common among us.[9] As
soon as any Thing is missing, suspected to be stolen, the first Course
we steer is directly to the Office of Mr. _Jonathan Wild_. If what we
want is a Trinket, either enamel'd, or otherwise curiously wrought; if
there is Painting about it; if it be a particular Ring, the Gift of a
Friend; or any Thing which we esteem above the real Value, and offer
more for it than Mr. _Thief_ can make of it, we are look'd upon as good
Chaps, and welcome to redeem it. But if it be plain Gold or Silver, we
shall hardly see it again, unless we pay the Worth of it. Some Years
ago, it is true, a Man might, for half a Piece, have fetch'd back a
Snuff-Box that weigh'd twenty or thirty Shillings: But this was in the
Infancy of the Establishment. Now they are grown wiser, and calculate
exactly what such a Thing will melt down for: To offer less is thought
unreasonable; and unless Mr. _Thief-catcher_ stands your Friend indeed,
if you have it, you will seldom save any Thing but the Fashion. If in
this Place you can hear no Tidings of your Goods, it is counted a Sign,
that they are in the Hands of irregular Practitioners, that steal
without Permission of the Board. In this Case we immediately put in an
Advertisement in some News-Paper or other, with a Promise, that such a
Reward will be given, and no Questions asked. I own, that in the
Printing of these short Epistles there is no manner of Harm, if we
abstract the Act itself from the Concern the Publick has in it. The
Tenor of them is rather benevolent than injurious: And a Panegyrist on
the present Times might justly say of them, That in no Performances the
true Spirit of Christianity was so conspicuous as in these: That they
were not only free from Calumny and ill Language, but likewise so void
of Reproach, that speaking to a Thief, we never call'd him so in those
charitable Addresses: That in them the very Catalogues of Injuries
receiv'd, were penn'd with as little Heat, or Resentment, as ever
Tradesman shew'd in a Bill of Parcels directed to his best Customer:
That here we are so far from hating our Enemy, that we proffer him a
Recompence for his Trouble, if he will condescend to let us have our
own again; and leaving all Revenge to God, to shew that we are willing
to forgive and forget, we consult, in the most effectual Manner, the
Safety of a Person that deserves Hanging for the Wrong he has done us.
Yet, notwithstanding the kind Constructions that may be put on these
Civil Offers, they all tend to the _Compounding of Felony_, and are the
Occasion of a double Mischief: They invite the Indigent and Lazy to pick
Pockets, and render the Negligent more careless than probably they would
be, was this Practice abolish'd. A Pocket-Book, or Memorandum, may be
stole from a Man that is of vast Concern to him, and yet of no Use but
to the Owner: If this be taken by a regular Thief, a listed Pilferer, it
is easily recover'd for a small Reward. I don't suppose any one so
silly, that therefore he would go to Places, and into Companies, on
Purpose to have his Pocket pick'd; but I can't help thinking, that if
those Things were never to be heard of again, and the Loss
irretrievable, many young Rakes, and other loose Reprobates, would be
under greater Apprehensions, and more upon their Guard, at least when
they had such a Charge about them, than the Generality of them now are.
And again, if nothing could be made of Letters, Papers, and Things of
that Nature, such as have no known Worth, and are not readily turned
into Money, the numbers of Whores and Rogues, young and old, that are
employ'd in the Diving Trade, would decrease considerably; many of them,
from a Principle of Prudence, refusing to meddle with any Thing else.
For as on most of the Things now spoke of, no real Value can be set, the
Punishment would be inconsiderable, if any, should the Things be found
upon them, or themselves be taken in the Fact. Most Men will agree to
all this, whilst unconcern'd; but when private Interest is touch'd, it
soon stifles these Considerations. I should be a Fool, says one, when a
Thing of Value is stolen from me, not to get it back, if I can, for a
Trifle. If I lose a Sword, or a Watch, I must have another; and to save
the Fashion in these Things is considerable: It is better to lose the
Half than the Whole. I have nothing to do with the Thief, says another,
if I have my own again, it is all I want: What Good would it do to me to
have a poor Fellow hang'd? A Third, more compassionate, will tell us,
that if he knew the Thief, he would not meddle with him; and that he
would lose ten times the Value of what has been taken from him, rather
than be the Occasion of a Man's Death. To these I reply, that the
Legislators seem to have known how the Generality of Men would argue,
and what Excuses they would make; they had an Eye on the Frailty of our
Nature; consider'd, that all Prosecutions are troublesome, and often
very expensive; that most Men preferred their own Interest, their Ease
and Pleasure, to any Regard of the Publick; and therefore they provided
against our Passions with so much Severity. _Compounding of Felony_ is
not prohibited under a small Penalty, or attoned for by a little Fine;
it is next to Felony; and the most creditable Citizen, that is convicted
of it, ceases to be an honest Man.
The Offence in our Law is call'd THEFTBOTE; of which my Lord Chief
Justice _Coke_ says, "That it is an Offence beyond Misprision of Felony;
for that is only a bare Concealment of his bare Knowledge: But that it
is THEFTBOTE when the Owner not only knows of the Felony, but takes of
the Thief his Goods again, or Amends for the same to favour or maintain
him, that is, not to prosecute him, to the Intent he may escape. The
Punishment of THEFTBOTE is Ransom and Imprisonment." THEFTBOTE (as
described by Act of Parliament) _est emenda furti capta absque
consideratione curiae domini regis_. Sir _Matthew Hale_, in his _Pleas of
the Crown_, says, "That THEFTBOTE is more than a bare Misprision of
Felony, and is, where the Owner doth not only know the Felony, but takes
his Goods again, or other Amends, not to prosecute."
This Rigour of the Legislature is a full Demonstration, that they
thought it a Crime of the most pernicious Consequence to the Society;
yet it is become familiar to us; and our Remissness in several Matters,
relating to Felons, is not to be parallell'd in any other civiliz'd
Nation. That Rogues should be industriously dispers'd throughout the
City and Suburbs; that different Hours and Stations should be observ'd
among them, and regular Books kept of stollen Goods; that the
Superintendent in this hopeful Oeconomy should almost every Sessions,
for a Reward, betray, prosecute, and hang one or more of this his
Acquaintance, and at the same Time keep on his Correspondence amongst
the Survivors, whom, one after another, he sends all to their Triangular
Home; that Magistrates should not only know and see this, but likewise
continue to make use of such a Person for an Evidence, and in a manner
own that they are beholden to him in the Administration of Justice;
That, I say, all these Things should be Facts, is something very
extraordinary, in the Principal City, and the Home Management of a
Kingdom, so formidable abroad, and of such Moment in the Balance of
_Europe_, as that of _Great Britain_.
The Mischief that one Man can do as a Thief, is a very Trifle to what he
may be the Occasion of, as an Agent or Concealer of Felons. The longer
this Practice continues, the more the Number of Rogues must hourly
encrease; and therefore it is high Time that regular Book-keeping of
stolen Goods should cease, and that all Gangs and Knots of Thieves
should be broke and destroy'd as much as is possible, at least, none of
them suffer'd to form themselves into Societies that are under
Discipline, and act by Order of a Superior. It is highly criminal in any
Man, for Lucre, to connive at a Piece of Felony which he could have
hinder'd: But a profess'd Thief-Catcher, above all, ought to be severely
punish'd, if it can be proved that he has suffer'd a known Rogue to go
on in his Villany, tho' but one Day, after it was in his Power to
apprehend and convict him, more especially if it appears that he was a
Sharer in the Profit.
CHAP. II.
_Of the ill Consequences of_ THEFTBOTE, _and the Licentiousness of
Felons in Newgate._
Often, when I have spoke against _Theftbote_, after the same manner as
now I have been writing, I have heard Men of Worth and good Sense come
into my Sentiments, who yet, after all, would tell me, That if I had
lost any Thing myself, they believ'd that I would be glad to have it
again with as little Cost and Trouble as I could. This I never denied,
and am still willing to own. We are all partial and unfit Judges in our
own Cause; but the most that can be made of this, is, That in that Case
neither I nor any Body else, that has had any Thing stolen from him,
ought to be consulted about the Matter: We are ill qualified, and
therefore incapable of determining any Thing rightly concerning it. I
have another Reason why this ought to be referred rather to those who
never lost any Thing by Thieves and Pilferers, than others who have been
Sufferers that Way: Rogues, it is true, have a thousand Stratagems, and
a Person may be very careful, and yet have his Pocket pick'd, if ever he
appears in the Street, or a Crowd: Yet, if we divide Mankind into two
Classes, that the one will be more exempt from those Misfortunes than
the other, is undeniable. A Man, who is always upon his Guard in the
Streets, and suspects all Crowds; that is temperate in his Liquor;
avoids, as much as is possible, unseasonable Hours; never gives Ear to
Night-walkers; a Man that abroad is always watchful over himself, and
every Thing about him, and at home takes Care of his Doors and Bolts,
his Shutters, Locks, and Bars; such a one, I say, is in less Danger than
others, who are unthinking, and never mind what Companies they thrust
themselves into; or such as will be drunk, go home late in the dark
unattended, and scruple not to talk and converse with lewd Women, as
they meet them; or that are careless of themselves as well as of the
securing and fastening of their Houses. It is evident then which Class
would yield the most proper Judges; whom if it was left to, I don't
question but the sober, careful, and wiser Part of the Nation would
agree, that the Practice in vogue, and Method made use of to recover
stolen Goods, even tho' there was no express Law against it, is, on many
Accounts, mischievous to the Publick, and visibly destructive to the
Interest of honest Property, and our Security in the Enjoyment of it.
There is no greater Encouragement for Men to follow any Labour or
Handicraft, than that they are paid as soon as they have done their
Work, without any further Trouble. It is from such a Consideration as
this, that to encrease the publick Security, the Law not only punishes
Stealing, but likewise makes it Felony, knowingly to buy stolen Goods;
and moreover perpetuates honest Property, and renders the Right of it
inalienable from the injured Owner, who seizes his Goods in what Hands
soever he finds them. These two additional Precautions are of admirable
Use in hampering common Villains, and strengthening the Law against
Theft. From the first, a Rogue, after he has made himself liable to be
hang'd, may be still disappointed, and miss his chief Aim; for as Money
is what he wants, if no Body will purchase what he offers, he is never
the nearer. The Second makes that he is never safe, tho' he is rid of
the Goods, and the Money in his Pocket; for tho' they are gone through
half a Dozen Hands, as soon as the Right Owner lays Claim to the Things
stole, every one is oblig'd to discover where he had them; and by this
Means it is seldom difficult to find out the Thief, or the Receiver of
stolen Goods. To leap these two Barriers, and free himself at once of
the Trouble there is in finding a safe Purchaser, and all Apprehensions
of future Danger, a Rogue could not wish or imagine any Thing more
effectual than that he might lodge what he has stole in the Hands of the
Owner himself, and so receive a Reward for his Pains, and, at the same
Time, a Pardon for his Crime, of him, whose Prosecution was the only
Thing he had to fear. It is evident then, that the friendly Commerce,
and amicable Negotiations, now in vogue, between Thieves and those that
are robb'd by them, are the greatest Encouragement of low Villany that
can be invented, and as sure a Way to keep up the Breed of Rogues, and
promote the Interest of them, as either our Fishery or the Coal Trade
are constant Nurseries for Sailors.
I am not ignorant, that in the present Conjuncture, as Cases might be
stated, it would be very harsh, and seem to be the Height of Injustice,
if we should hinder People from redeeming stolen Goods on all
Emergencies whatever. A Man may be vigilant and careful, and his
Servants the same, and yet, their Eyes being one Moment turn'd from the
Counter, a Shop-Book may be snatched, and carried off, perhaps, a Month
before _Christmas_. This may put a Tradesman of good Business in great
Distress: Must he lose it? I say, Yes, if the Publick is to be preferr'd
to a private Interest. In the mean time, I know very well what every
Body would do in that Case: But that the Whole suffers by the
Redemption, I prove thus: Let us say, that this Year twelve Shop-Books
are stole, that are all recover'd for two or three Guineas apiece got
for them, and no Body punish'd. You may expect that next Year you will
have forty or fifty stole, and in a few Years nothing will be more
common. And again, let us suppose that last Year an hundred Shop-Books
were stole; but, by vertue of some effectual Law for that Purpose, not
one redeemed. The Consequence, in all Probability, would be, that the
next Year you would hardly have ten Shop-Books stole; and if, thro' the
strict Observance of the Law, none of them likewise should be redeem'd,
you would hear no more of that Practice.
Besides, when a Man steals what is of no Value but to me, and can have
no other View than that I should redeem it, and be his Pay-Master
myself, the Felony becomes, in a manner, a compound Action, in which, as
soon as I comply, I join with the Thief: And if we consider that the
changing of Property from one Man to another, is seldom of any
Consequence to the Publick, and that all the Mischief that can befal it
from Theft, that is, the Loss of Goods that Way sustain'd by private
Persons, consists in this, That those who committed it, gain their
Point, and come off with Impunity, let who will be the Thief, or the
Receiver; if, I say, we consider these two Things, it will appear, that
in the Case I have mentioned, myself, who for my own Ends assisted the
Thief with Money, and secured him from Prosecution, had the greatest
Share in the Transaction, and consequently was, of the two, the most
injurious to the civil Society. Without me the Rogue would not only have
been disappointed, but likewise, whilst he continued in Possession of
the Thing stole, remained in the perpetual Dread of being prosecuted for
what he never had any Benefit from; and it is not probable that a Man
who had been twice so served, would ever make such another Attempt.
These Things well deserve the Consideration of wise Men, and I desire
the compassionate Part of Mankind to reflect on what daily Experience
teaches us of common Felons, and they will easily find out, that
unseasonable Pity may prove the greatest Cruelty. The oftner a young
Rogue steals with Impunity, the sooner he'll be a thorough-paced
Villain, that will venture on more hazardous Undertakings; and the more
numerous the Examples of such are, the more loose People will enter into
the Fraternity, of which, whether it be great or small, very few ever
arrive to a middle Age. Some are cunning enough never to be taken in a
Fact; but no Subtlety can save them from the Impeachment of others. A
licens'd Practitioner may be skreen'd and protected some Years, if he
sticks to Discipline, and pays the greatest Part of his Earnings for his
Security; but if he rides resty, and squabbles about the Contribution
required of him, he is in a dangerous Way. It is possible that a
dextrous Youth may be esteemed, and be a Favourite to the Superintendent
a great while; but when he grows very notorious, he is hunted like a
Deer, and the Premium on his Head betrays him. He may baffle his
Prosecutor, find a Flaw in an Indictment, elude the Force of an
Evidence, come off once or twice, be reprieved, break Goal, or be
pardoned, the Gallows will be his Portion at last. The Wretch that is
train'd up to stealing, is the Property of the Hangman: He can never
entirely leave off his Trade: Many, after Transportation, have, with
great Hazard of their Lives, found the Way back again to _Newgate_. A
Thief bred must be hang'd if he lives.
From all which appears, what I undertook to prove, That Remissness as to
Prosecutions, occasion'd by the bare-faced Compositions of Felony, is
one of the grand Causes of that lamentable Complaint, the Frequency of
Executions; and should we compare the Droves that are carried to
_Tyburn_ for Slaughter, with those others that are sent to _Smithfield_
for the same Purpose, we would find the modern Thief-Catcher subservient
to the Executioner in the same Manner, as the wealthy Grazier is to the
needy Butcher; and that of the Cattle in either Sense, few are kill'd by
the one that were never cherish'd by the other.
I am now come to the second Cause, which is the Treatment Felons receive
after they are taken, both in _Newgate_ and their Journey from thence to
the Gallows: First, It is wrong to suffer such Numbers of them to be and
converse together; for nothing but the utmost Corruption can be expected
from a Company of forty or fifty People in a Prison, who, every one of
them, singly consider'd, were all the worst of Thousands before they
met. Secondly, It is an Encouragement to Vice, that the most dissolute
of both Sexes, and generally young People too, should live promiscuously
in the same Place, and have Access to one another. For the rest, the
Licentiousness of the Place is abominable, and there are no low Jests
so filthy, no Maxims so destructive to good Manners, or Expressions so
vile and prophane, but what are utter'd there with Applause, and
repeated with Impunity. They eat and drink what they can purchase, every
Body has Admittance to them, and they are debarr'd from nothing but
going out. Their most serious Hours they spend in mock Tryals, and
instructing one another in cross Questions, to confound Witnesses; and
all the Stratagems and Evasions that can be of Service, to elude the
Charge that shall be made against them; or else in reading Lectures on
some Branch or other of their Profession, the various Arts and Methods
of Stealing, or the Glory, as well as Usefulness of invincible Impudence
on all offensive and defensive Emergencies. As villainous Pawn-brokers,
and all Receivers of stolen Goods, have good Reasons to be liberal to
those they have dealt with, when in this Distress, so no Felons are here
in Want, and reduced to the Allowance of the Prison, but Novices and
silly Creatures, that have the least deserved to be punish'd; whereas
the Veteran Rogues, and such as have been great Traders, are well
provided for. This keeps them up in Debauchery; and many, after
Condemnation, persist in their riotous Courses, and pampering their
Bodies, whilst the Care that is taken of their Souls is very mean. For
such is the Noise and Confusion all around them, that even the best
dispos'd have not sufficient Opportunities to prepare themselves for
another World; and the Helps they receive in Spirituals are, all Things
consider'd, no better than the Accounts we have of them after every
Session.
CHAP. III.
_Of Execution Day, the Journey to _Tyburn_, and a Word in behalf of
Anatomical Dissections._
When the Day of Execution is come, among extraordinary Sinners, and
Persons condemned for their Crimes, who have but that Morning to live,
one would expect a deep Sense of Sorrow, with all the Signs of a
thorough Contrition, and the utmost Concern; that either Silence, or a
sober Sadness, should prevail; and that all, who had any Business there,
should be grave and serious, and behave themselves, at least, with
common Decency, and a Deportment suitable to the Occasion. But the very
Reverse is true. The horrid Aspects of Turnkeys and Gaolers, in
Discontent and Hurry; the sharp and dreadful Looks of Rogues, that beg
in Irons, but would rob you with greater Satisfaction, if they could;
the Bellowings of half a dozen Names at a time, that are perpetually
made in the Enquiries after one another; the Variety of strong Voices,
that are heard, of howling in one Place, scolding and quarrelling in
another, and loud Laughter in a third; the substantial Breakfasts that
are made in the midst of all this; the Seas of Beer that are swill'd;
the never-ceasing Outcries for more; and the bawling Answers of the
Tapsters as continual; the Quantity and Varieties of more entoxicating
Liquors, that are swallow'd in every Part of _Newgate_; the Impudence,
and unseasonable Jests of those, who administer them; their black Hands,
and Nastiness all over; all these, joined together, are astonishing and
terrible, without mentioning the Oaths and Imprecations, that from every
Corner are echo'd a about, for Trifles; or the little, light, and
general Squallor of the Gaol itself, accompany'd with the melancholy
Noise of Fetters, differently sounding, according to their Weight: But
what is most shocking to a thinking Man, is, the Behaviour of the
Condemn'd, whom (for the greatest Part) you'll find, either drinking
madly, or uttering the vilest Ribaldry, and jeering others, that are
less impenitent; whilst the Ordinary bustles among them, and, shifting
from one to another, distributes Scraps of good Counsel to unattentive
Hearers; and near him, the Hangman, impatient to be gone, swears at
their Delays; and, as fast as he can, does his Part, in preparing them
for their Journey.