Black Bess; or, The Knight of the Road — A Tale of the Good Old Times — page 358: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

or Re LT TE LO EL ELLA AT CE TE TC TT OAC, 396 lim in the way they did He wanted them to mental and bodily discomfiture. But it was no good to think of turning back now ta the hope of finding her again, because she had had plenty of time to get a long way from the spot. Bidding them follow him, Jonathan continued on his way to his house in Newgate-street, where certain things connected with his general trade required his attention. He had neglected his business a great deal lately, and, though the thief-taker was in no way dependent upon at, yet he could not avoid grieving a good deal. “Curse it,” he said. “It seems to be my fate that I am never to get any one about me that I can trust. | thought I bad found what I wanted in Blueskin, but even he has turned against me. If he would come back and be to me what he has been, I feel that I could overlook all the past. But that cannot be, and 14 1s folly of me to think about it. “Ober men,” he continued, after a tew moments’ silence, ‘Shave sous who, as they grow up, replace them and serve them. But I am not as other men. 1 havea son—-I mean I had one, for whether he 1s alive at this moment is more than I can tell. But he was a dolt—an idict. So itis no good thinking about him. He might have joined his fortunes to mine to the advantage of both of us, but he elected otherwise. He is gone, but I wish —I wish he had been a son to me.” Jonathan Wild was human, and there were timcs when even he, iron-hearted as he was, grmeved about his son. It seemed to be one portion of the punishment attached to his evil doings tobe in a state of isolation. He secmed to stand upon a pedestal, where there was room for no one but himself. Yet he longed for companionship and assistance of a confidential character in the numerous enterprises he had under hand. But he was fated not to have it. This son of his of whom he spoke, and to whom allusion has on a former occasion been made, was born him by his first wife. We have touched but little upon the early biography of the great thief-taker. But as this son of his soon afterwards made his appear- ance, and took a prominent part in the adventures which subsequently happened, it will, perhaps, be as well if we take this opportunity to bestow a hasty glance upon the thief-taker’s early life. Wolverhampton, in Staffordshire, has the honour of being the birthplace of this unparalleled miscreant. His parents were poor, but respectuble people, residing in that town. Some of their descendants ure, we believe, still to be found residing iu the immediate locality. But that has nothing to do with our story. Had Jonathan been an ordinary kind of man, he would have lived and died as thuusands of his forefathers did before him, with their name uoiknown to the world. They had been content to travel in the rut in the high- way of life in which accident had placed them, and never once thought of making the slightest attempt to raise themselves out of il. But Jonathan was gifted not only with extraordinary strength and energy of constitution, but also with un- common strength and energy of mind. It is rarely that these two qualities are found united in one individual; but Jonathan was one. At an early age his ambition manifested ilself—though ma humble way. Still it led to other things. The other members of the family had been content to learn their father’s trade—that of buckle making—in their native town, but Jonathan determined to go to Bir- mingham and learn it—that town which is frequently designated as the metropolis of the midland counties, and which was some twelve or thirteen miles distant from tha place of his abode. This was his first step. And here let it be said that if fortune had been tavour.- able enough to the future thief-taker as to drait him into the army, he would have unquestionably made in very tauny respects the best man in the force, But fate decided otherwise. o «= =~ eae = ae, His anger arose from the fact of their having followed have stayed behind, and either cap- tured or slain the hag who had caused him so much BLUESKIN: A ROMANCE. _ To Birmingham, where he served his apprenticeship, he, like many another young man, fell in with a lot of disso- lute people about bis own age, and was ruined in conse- quence. It is not our intention, however, to preach a homily upon Jonathan Wild, or to attempt to extenuate in any way the numerous and barbarous crimes of which he was \guilty. Let it suffice to say, at Birmingham he was first edu- ae into the ways of villainy, aud he proved an apt pupil. In a little while he excelled all his companions in every- thing, so that at last he came to be looked upon as quite a head man amongst them. And this was always his fate—to join others upon a footing of equality, and then to rise superior to them. And we are not afraid to say that, had Jonathan Wild been trained right, he would have proved to be an orna- ment to society, instead of a disfigurement. At length, to such a pitch did he carry his depredations tn Birmingham, that he was compelled to fly. Of course, the first place that would suggest itself to a man like Wild would be London. To that city he resolved to repair, aud he set out on foot to perform the journey. iTe accomplished it. But we should state here thal, during his stay at Bir- mingham, which was of considerable duration, he became acquaiuted with a young girl, who was both virtuous and honest. As Jonathan was a young nau, earnimg good wages, and with a capita] prospect before him, she consented to aergme his wife, and they were legally marned to each ather. But at the time the young girl took the (for her) fatal step, fae had no idea what kind of man he was to whom she had given her hand. Soon, however, whispers of the truth reached her ears, but she refused to believe it. Then came Jonathan’s hasty flight to London. IIe did not make her the companion of his journay—he did set even make her his confidant. The poor woman, when she learned what had taken place, was distracted with gnef. Her parents and friends whom she had offended by marrying Wild, turned their backs upcn ler, and she was cast upon the mercy of the _ world. What was she to do? Expecting very shortly to become a mother, what was to happen to her and to her child ? Stil, for all that, with that fond devotion, of which a woman is alone capable, she loved her husband, and de- spite his treatment of her—his hasty flight—and the reports which were circulated agaiust his good name—she determined to follow him to London. She carried out her intention, and was so fortunate as to enlist the sympathies of a waggoner who was going to the great city, and he allowed her a seat in his convey- ance. For the reader must recollect that at the time of which we are writing—nearly a hundred and sixty years ago— there were no ready means ot travelling to and from dis- tant places, such as are in existence now. The consequence was, that the poor wife reached London almost as soon as licr reprobate husband. She also succeeded 1n finding him out. But where ? In Bridewell, where she was taken for being a beggar and a vagrant. Wild received his wife with dogged sullenness. While in this prison Wild’s first shild was born. The one of whom we have made izention. After a time the pair were hberated. Jonathan was driven to many shifts for a living, and at last, finding thieving to be the easiest, he adopted it, de- spite the remonstrances and presages of his poor young wife. And so things went on. In time, Jonathan made the glorious discovery that it was better to act as thieves’ agent than tlief; that, in tine, he should reap the best harvest by constituting bim- self a sort of middle-man between those who thieved and these who were robbed. Aud this was the beginmng of that monstrous system, COMICHOOKS.CO >