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Title: The Notorious Impostor (1692); Diego Redivivus (1692)

Author: Elkanah Settle

Editor: Spiro Peterson

Release date: September 23, 2011 [eBook #37517]

Most recently updated: January 8, 2021

Language: English

Credits: Produced by David Starner and the Online Distributed

Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NOTORIOUS IMPOSTOR (1692); DIEGO REDIVIVUS (1692) ***

THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY

ELKANAH SETTLE

THE NOTORIOUS IMPOSTOR

(1692)

DIEGO REDIVIVUS

(1692)

Introduction by

Spiro Peterson

Publication Number 68

Los Angeles

William Andrews Clark Memorial Library

University of California

GENERAL EDITORS

- RICHARD C. BOYS, University of Michigan

- RALPH COHEN, University of California, Los Angeles

- VINTON A. DEARING, University of California, Los Angeles

- LAWRENCE CLARK POWELL, Clark Memorial Library

ASSISTANT EDITOR

- W. EARL BRITTON, University of Michigan

ADVISORY EDITORS

- EMMETT L. AVERY, State College of Washington

- BENJAMIN BOYCE, Duke University

- LOUIS BREDVOLD, University of Michigan

- JOHN BUTT, KING'S COLLEGE, University of Durham

- JAMES L. CLIFFORD, Columbia University

- ARTHUR FRIEDMAN, University of Chicago

- LOUIS A. LANDA, Princeton University

- SAMUEL H. MONK, University of Minnesota

- ERNEST C. MOSSNER, University of Texas

- JAMES SUTHERLAND, University College, London

- H. T. SWEDENBERG, JR., University of California, Los Angeles

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY

- EDNA C. DAVIS, Clark Memorial Library

INTRODUCTION

The great English novel of the eighteenth century was developed out of the long established traditions in the essay, letter, religious treatise, biography and personal memoir. Although this influence has been generally acknowledged, the critical investigation of its exact nature has often been hampered by the lack of readily available texts. Especially is this true of the criminal biographies written in the late seventeenth century. The reprinting of Elkanah Settle's The Notorious Impostor (Part One) and the anonymous Diego Redivivus is thus justified as providing the means for the further study of the early fiction-writer's techniques. Published In 1692, the two pamphlets belong to a group of five closely-related narratives dealing with a real criminal named William Morrell. In the probable order of their publication, these were Diego Redivivus, The Notorious Impostor (Part One), The Second Part of the Notorious Impostor, "William Morrell's Epitaph" in The Gentleman's Journal, and The Compleat Memoirs of the Life of that Notorious Impostor Will. Morrell. The different accounts forcefully demonstrate how criminal fiction allied itself with both biography and the picaresque. In addition, The Notorious Impostor serves as a representative work by Elkanah Settle whose criminal biographies have never received the attention they deserve.[1]

The combination of fact and fiction in the William Morrell narratives had been tried earlier in Settle's first known criminal biography, The Life and Death of Major Clancie, the Grandest Cheat of this Age (1680). Like Bunyan's Mr. Badman, advertised in the same issue of The Term Catalogues (I, 382), Major Clancie purports to narrate "Real matter of Fact." Thus, in the background, significant historical events, from the Irish Rebellion to the Great Fire, are being enacted. Important English worthies—Lord Ormonde, Bishop Compton, Charles II—become entangled in the villainies of the Major, an actual Irish criminal. None of this historical backdrop is to be found, however, in The Notorious Impostor; and the characters here, although Sir William Walters and Humphrey Wickham were well-known local personages, are not historically eminent. The picaresque in Major Clancie, too, is more readily identifiable than in The Notorious Impostor. For, contrary to its stated aim, the biography of Clancie is more fiction than fact. Anthony Wood, noting the fictional elaborations, remarked: "Several stories in this book which belong to other persons are fathered on the said major; who, as I remember, was in Oxon in the plague year 1665 when the king and the queen kept their respective courts there."[2] Wood then contributes a few of his own pungent stories about the Major, which have no counterparts in Settle's narrative. Where the two writers provide parallel accounts, the "fiction" appears to be based on a substratum of truth surviving in anecdotes. Settle's verisimilitude had an effect upon Theophilus Lucas's Memoirs of the Lives, Intrigues, and Comical Adventures of the Most Famous Gamesters and Celebrated Sharpers (1714), which begins with a condensed version of The Life and Death of Major Clancie.[3] Lucas presents his account as if it were a true memoir.

The Notorious Impostor was to experience a similar acceptance as a memoir. All modern biographical accounts of its villain-hero, William Morrell,[4] are based on the two separate parts of The Notorious Impostor or The Compleat Memoirs. On January 3, 1692, he had died, a criminal at large; and the strange circumstances of his death became the talk of London. While the event was still a sensation, the bookseller Abel Roper rushed his "last will and testament" lives into print. The first to appear was Diego Redivivus, reprinted here from the rare copy at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library. Evidence for the publication of Diego Redivivus before The Notorious Impostor is fairly conclusive. The Registers of the Worshipful Company of Stationers (III, 397) enters Diego Redivivus, on behalf of Abel Roper, for January 12, 1692, and The Term Catalogues (II, 392) advertises The Notorious Impostor in the quarterly issue published in February, but Anthony Wood (III, 384) states that he bought his copy of the latter "in the beginning of March." A comparison of the two texts, moreover, supports this order of the publication.

Events in Diego Redivivus, as in a news story, have greater immediacy. Morrell's death, the title asserts, took place the third of "this instant January." The specific detail of Diego (p. 2: "about a fortnight before Christmas") is paralleled by the general statement of The Notorious Impostor (p. 30: "Some few days before Christmas"). Although its title-page promises a "Full Relation" of Morrell's cheats, Diego Redivivus presents only the final "will" episode, whereas The Notorious Impostor ranges over the whole criminal career. Both narratives have in common the long will and codicil, except that The Notorious Impostor (p. 34) drastically shortens the Latin passage which, in Diego Redivivus (p. 10), states that the will had been probated. Even more conclusive evidence may be found in comparing the dates of the final events in the two accounts. Diego Redivivus, licensed on January 12, stops short with the humble burial of Morrell on January 13. Considerably later, certainly, must be the occurrence described in the Postscript of The Notorious Impostor: the nurse's and assistants' recollection that Morrell was laughing to himself in his last grim cheating of the world.

Part One of The Notorious Impostor, as the sequel informs us, met with a "general Reception." Advertised in the February issue of The Term Catalogues, also, was a separate continuation. Interest in the impostor did not diminish during February. "The Death of William Morrell," complained The Gentleman's Journal of this month, "hath made too much Noise not to have reach'd you before this.... Had not his Will and Life been printed, I would have given you a large Account of both." The anonymous writer refers here, perhaps, to Diego Redivivus ("Will") and The Notorious Impostor ("Life") in the order of their publication. He then ironically lauds, in the verses of "William Morrell's Epitaph," the great skill of the impostor ("Columbus-like I a new World descry'd, / Of Roguery before untry'd").

Elkanah Settle's two parts of The Notorious Impostor were finally published together in 1694 as The Compleat Memoirs of the Life of that Notorious Impostor Will. Morrell, alias Bowyer, alias Wickham, &c. … under the imprint of Abel Roper and E. Wilkinson. So extensive are the re-arrangements of the episodes taken from Parts One and Two that The Compleat Memoirs may be regarded as a fifth, very different narrative. All the apologies for not resorting to "romance" are now dropped, and the humorous dedication is replaced by a direct appeal to Gabriel Balam, signed "E. Settle." The Compleat Memoirs then reworks the texts of the two Parts into a smooth, chronologically consistent narrative.[5] Even more important in designating The Compleat Memoirs as "new" are the "Considerable Additions never before Published" announced by the title-page. After using the incidents from The Second Part of the Notorious Impostor, Settle then adds: "Since the first Publication of our fore-going History of our Grand Guzman, we have receiv'd some Comical Adventures, worth inserting in his Memoirs, which though they now bring up the Rear of his Chronicle, however, they were the first of all his Wedlock Feats...." In the totally new adventures that end The Compleat Memoirs (pp. 72-88), the cynical tone and raciness of the picaresque become even more dominant than in the earlier separate narratives.[6]

The importance of the Morrell narratives in the development of English fiction lies mainly in their deft combinations of the real and the picaresque and in their conscious effort to unify the action, draw out the humour, or handle realistic talk and setting. But the narratives also look backward to an older type, the picaresque. William Morrell makes his printed appearance as the new picaro. The title Diego Redivivus (i.e. James Revived) had overtones of the sensationally picaresque. The witty pseudonym "Don Diego Puede-Ser" had been used by James Mabbe in his translation (1623) of Aleman's Vita del Picaro Guzman;[7] and more recent in English memories were the exploits of James Hind, the English Rogue. In the Dedication, The Notorious Impostor describes itself as "the Life of our English Guzman" and later promises to "paint our new Guzman in some of his boldest and fairest Colours." But the picaresque traditions have shaded into one another. For Morrell is not simply the new Guzman; he is also Hudibras and, in The Second Part, Don Quixote.

Still another reason for the importance of the Morrell narratives is their consciousness of fictional techniques and theory. In Diego Redivivus, for example, the final deception is meticulously developed with closely-woven incidents which do not appear elsewhere. The motives of the characters, too, are sharply defined; and the action is unified by the two references to oath-taking (pp. 2-3). The anonymous author, at the outset, stresses the value of "the Particulars … no disacceptable Entertainment" (p. 1). Aware of theory, he specifies that Morrell created "some Romantick narrative" to explain his poverty (p. 4). In fictional technique, Elkanah Settle approaches a unified theme especially in The Second Part of the Notorious Impostor and the "Comical Adventures" of The Compleat Memoirs where the incidents are mainly of one kind—matrimonial. Theorizing appears, too, in Part One somewhat in the manner of Daniel Defoe: "we dare not venture to play the Historian any farther than certain Intelligence (which yet we have not received) can guide us, being resolved not to load our Rambles with Romance or Fiction, his Life being furnisht with matter sufficiently voluminous without the addition of Flourish or Fancy" (p. 27). This may be Settle's pointed reference to the "fiction" of Diego Redivivus.[8] He maintains, also, that he had to delay for a fortnight the publication of The Second Part of the Notorious Impostor in order to be certain of its authenticity.

Finally, the importance of the Morrell narratives may be seen in terms of the realistic fiction that was to achieve fulfillment in the eighteenth-century novel. The clear presence of fictional elaboration, in The Notorious Impostor, caught the attention of both Frank Wadleigh Chandler and Ernest Bernbaum.[9] Elkanah Settle thus rightly belongs with writers, like Francis Kirkman, who masked fiction as the truth. Historians of the novel, moreover, attach significance to The Notorious Impostor in its resemblance to the novels of Defoe, Mrs. Heywood, and Smollett. Only the claim of influence on Smollett's Ferdinand Count Fatham has been investigated to any extent. In a full analysis of Smollett's novel, Chandler's strong statement will have to be taken into account: "The resemblance, indeed, between the two anti-heroes and the terms in which the accounts of their cheating are couched is so strong as to suggest actual borrowing on the part of Smollett."[10]

Spiro Peterson

Miami University

Oxford, Ohio

Since writing the above, I have been informed by G. F. Osborn, archivist of the City of Westminster Public Libraries, that the registers of St. Clement Danes, in his keeping, have the following entry under 12 January 169-1/2: "William Morrell alias Bowier a man bur[ied] poor."

Notes to the Introduction

[1] See F. C. Brown, Elkanah Settle: His Life and Works (1910), pp. 22, 29, 127.

[2] The Life and Times of Anthony Wood, ed. Andrew Clark (1892), II, 48-49.

[3] Games and Gamesters of the Restoration, ed. Cyril Hughes Hartmann (The English Library, 1930), pp. 123-137.

[4] E.g. Alfred Beasley's in The History of Banbury (1841), pp. 448-492, and G. T. Crook's in The Complete Newgate Calendar (1926), pp. 117-124.

[5] The text of The Compleat Memoirs is indeed a composite. Paragraph one of p. 1 unites a paragraph from p. 1 of Part One and a paragraph from pp. 34-35 of Part Two; pp. 1-27 are the same as pp. 5-27 of Part One; pp. 27-46: pp. 2-21 of Part Two; pp. 46-50: pp. 27-29 of Part One; pp. 50-57: pp. 22-29 of Part Two; pp. 57-65: pp. 30-36 of Part One; pp. 66-71: pp. 29-36 of Part Two.

[6] The Post Boy advertised The Compleat Memoirs from February 17 to April 23, 1698. See also W. Carew Hazlitt (Bibliographical Collections, Third Series, p. 229) for a description of a copy dated 1699.

[7] Morrell's last impersonation involving the fake will resembles Pantalon's "last Will and Testament" jest in Mabbe's The Rogue or The Life of Guzman de Alfarache (The Tudor Translations, 1924), II, 184-186.

[8] Settle's authorship of The Notorious Impostor is confirmed by his name appended to the Dedication of The Compleat Memoirs. Although Diego Redivivus occasionally resembles The Notorious Impostor, it need not necessarily be Settle's work. The similar style and the identical documentation (e.g. the will) may be due to Settle's direct use of the earlier narrative. None of its minutely-drawn description, curiously, is perpetuated in The Compleat Memoirs. The authorship of Diego Redivivus remains an unsettled question.

[9] The Literature of Roguery (1907), I, 153: The Mary Carleton Narratives (1914), p. 6.

[10] I, 153. Ernest A. Baker makes a similar statement (The History of the English Novel [1937], III, 46). With respect to the influence of The Notorious Impostor on Mrs. Eliza Haywood, he should have cited Miss Betsy Thoughtless (1751)—the very book praised by Captain Minikin as "worth reading" in Ferdinand Count Fathom (Chap. XXXIX).

THE

Notorious Impostor,

Or the History of the LIFE of

William Morrell,

ALIAS

BOWYER,

Sometime of Banbury, Chirurgeon.

Who lately personated Humphrey Wickham of Swackly, in

the County of Oxon, Esquire, at a Bakers House in

the Strand, where he Died the third of Jan. 169-1/2

Together

With an Authentick Copy of his Will, taken out of the

Prerogative Court, and the manner of his Funeral in

St. Clements Church-yard.

LONDON,

Printed for Abel Roper at the Mytre near

Temple-Bar, 1692.

TO THE

Honourable Capt. Humph. Wickham.

SIR,

WHen this following 'Paper makes thus bold to be your Addressor, the only Encouragement for the Presumption is, that your borrow'd Name has fill'd up so large a Sheet in our History, as justly entitles You to this Presentation. And truly as a considerable part of it has already furnisht you with no small Jest at your Laughing Hours, we hope the Life of our English Guzman, your late Adopted Name-sake, will be no undiverting Entertainment. His Life, 'tis true, has been little else than a continued Scene of Masquerade; and if to finish his last Act, he had occasion of borrowing a Face and Character of Quality and consequently fixt upon Captain Wickham; alas, you must consider he wanted Worth and Honour, and can you blame him for looking for 'em where they were to be found? You stood fair for him, and the World, however, it may censure his Impudence, at least it cannot but commend his Choice. And the Reason (if you have any) to complain, is, that whereas the World is but a Stage, and Life but a Play, and Captain Wickham was only personated to Cheat a poor Baker of a Fortnights Lodging and Bread. 'Tis pity your Name, that much better deserved, was only drawn in to the filling up of a Farce. But, as great a Thief as he was to steal a Title of Honour, whatever hard Charge the poor suffering Baker has against him, yet considering how little you have lost by him, we hope your excusing Goodness will not load him higher than Petty Larceny. And truly if he can feel it in his Grave, he has sufficiently felt the Lash for it. His Last Will and Testament, I confess, has very bountifully cantoned out your Estate; all the sorrow is, that the Gaping Executors, and the rest of the Inheritors, have no shorter a Walk than into Fairy-Land to receive their Legacies; a longer Journey, 'tis to be feared, than either the Bright Bay, or Dappled Grey, will ever be able to carry 'em.

And now to do our last Office, viz. to speak a good word of the Dead (for truly he had no Funeral Sermon to do it) they may talk of Monuments and Epitaphs for preserving of Memories; but our quondam Operator of Banbury, tho' with plainer Funeral Ceremonies, has taken care for a lasting Renown, when much finer Dust under Statues and Marble shall sleep forgotten: And whereas there are famous Examples of old, that have perpetuated their Names at no less price than the burning of Temples, his better Husbandry, to his Glory be it recorded, has purchased Immortality much cheaper; where we'll leave him, and beg your Pardon for this Boldness

Of

Your unknown Humble Servant.

THE

Notorious Impostor:

OR THE

HISTORY

OF THE

LIFE

OF

William Morrell alias Bowyer, &c.

THIS Famous Rover, from the Multitude of his Titles, to begin with his right Name William Morrell, was by Profession a Chyrurgion, and more than twenty Years ago, for many Years together, a Practitioner of good Credit in Banbury, where his Industry honestly got him, by his Practice, near two Hundred a Year, with which he maintained himself, his Wife and Family very handsomely, till about eighteen Years ago he began to be very Lazy, and much addicted to hanker after the Conversation of the Gentry thereabouts; and being a Person very Facetious, and his Company not disacceptable, he screwed himself into the Society of the best Quality round about, and would be a Month or two a Guest at several Great Mens Houses; more particularly he some time since insinuated himself into the Favor of a Worthy Gentleman near Banbury, viz. Humphry Wickham of Swakely Esq; whose Person and Character he pretended to represent, and in which Imposture he made his last Exit.

But to begin our History in order; From his Conversing with Gentlemen and Herding with Quality, Business began to fall off: His many Rambles from home, soon made his Practice flag; when the Glass and the Bottle came into play, the Salvatory and Playster-box went out. And his Patients could not well stay for the Setting of a Broken Limb, or Tenting a Green Wound, till our Esculapius was to be called, the Lord knows where, and found the Devil knows when. This Trade continuing, the other fell to decay, till at last Poverty began to peep in at his Window, and Duns to hover about his Door. In these little Exigencies and Necessities (for the Gentleman's Tables abroad would not fill the Bellies at home, nor would Hunting or Hawking pay Landlords Rent) his Wants put him upon Shifts and Artifices for his Subsistence; and what with a Natural Wit and a pretty large Talent of Confidence, the pressing Hand of Fortune threw him upon several Tricks and Frauds to hold his Head above-board. But not to trouble you with any of his lesser Diminutive Exploits, the Infancy and Nonage of his Activity, we do not think fit to treat you with these pettier Adventures, but e'en set out in one of his noblest Atchievements, and paint our new German in some of his boldest and fairest Colours.

Accordingly he Equips himself with a Sturdy Young Country Fellow, a Ralpho to our Hudibras, and takes a Knight-Errantry one day to a Fair at Brayls in Warwickshire, his Habit between a Grazier and a plain Country Gentleman; where Santering about with his Man Tom (for so his Squire was titled) at last spying a Knot of good likely Kine (near a Score of them). Ah Master, says Tom, what a parcel of brave Cattle are these. Ay Tom, replies the Master, I am sorry I saw them no sooner; these would do my Business to a T; but as the Devil and ill Luck would have it, I have laid out my whole Stock already, and so I'll e'en set my Heart at Rest. The Country Fellow, the Owner of the Cattle, seeing a Gentleman of his honest Appearance surveying his Beasts, and hearing every word that pass'd between the Man and Master (for they took care to talk loud enough to be heard) thought he had got a good Chapman, and desired the Gentleman to draw nearer and handle the Cattle. Handle, answers Tom, what for? You know, Sir, you have laid out all your Money already, and what should we handle Cattle unless we had Cole to buy 'em. I confess they are for your Turn above any I have zeen in the whole Vair, but that's nothing, the Money Master the Money. The Money, replies the Country-man, Troth that shall make no Difference, nor break Squares between us; if you and I can agree, the Cattle are at your Service: I suppose you are some honest Gentleman hereabouts, and the Money will do my work next Market-day. Pray what may I call your Name? My Name is Walters, replies our Cattle-Merchant, Walters, Master, answers our Country-man, What any Relation to his Worship the Noble Sir William Walters? Ay, Friend, a small Relation, a Brother of his. A Brother of Sir William's! Off goes the Country-man's Bonnet at the next word, and a long Scrape made; for no Respect was too great for a Brother to a Person of such eminent Quality. My Cattle, Noble Squire, Ay with all my Heart. In short after much ado to make the Country-man be covered before him, he fell to treat about the Price of the Cattle, in which he bargained so warily, that they had almost parted for a single Shilling in a Dispute between them. But at last the Bargain and Sale concluded, Tom is commanded to drive home the Cattle, the Money to be paid next Market-day, and the Country-man has the Honor to drink a Pot at parting with his Worshipful Chapman our Sir William's Brother: This Feat performed, he takes a walk round the Fair, and picks up a pretty Country Girl, a Mason's Daughter, at a small Town about four Miles off, and gives her the common Country Civility of a Fair, viz. a Glass of White-wine and Sugar. During this Entertainment of our young Damsel, he is most desperately smitten with her Beauty, insomuch that our Inamorato must wait upon her home to her Father's House, nothing but Death and Despair attending if he cannot have that extraordinary Happiness. The Girl who by this time had learnt his Name and Quality, was not a little confounded at the pressing Importunities of a Person of his Worth to a poor Girl of her little Capacity, and notwithstanding her modest Refusals, felt a secret Pride from so kind an offer, and at last accepted of his Service home. No sooner was she got safe handed home, and Mother and Daddy, were privately whispered what Honor they received from such a Visitant; the best the House could afford was not good enough for him: after the courser Compliments of [Lord, Sir, such a Person of Quality under our poor Roof] and the like; the best welcome that could be made him was not wanting: Nay, for what was deficient at home, the whole Neighborhood was Ransakt to lend help toward the Accommodation. Our new Lover not to baulk a good Cause, openly Professes no less than honourable Matrimonial Affection to his dear Conqueror. Estate he wants none; and Portion or Quality are below his Consideration, the Satisfaction of Love is the only thing in the World he resolves to gratifie.

The Father and Mother are much astonish'd at such an Addressor to their Daughter, nor is the Daughter her self a little surprized at it, though of the two her Wonder is the least; for her Sexes natural Frailty was so apt to make her think it the pure Effect of her own sweet Face, that the power of her Charms, and the Quality of her Captive was not altogether (she fancied) so extraordinary an Adventure. In fine, Our passionate Admirer pushes on his suit with all the Vigour and Application imaginable, and truly you may well conceive so weak a Resistance could not well hold out long against so Puissant an Assailer: The Siege is press'd home, and in three short days the white Flag is hung out, a Parly beat, Articles concluded, and the Fort surrendered. Our Damsel, in short, commits Matrimony; and the whole Family is not a little Transported at such a Noble Alliance. Thus Wedded and Bedded, Our new Couple are all Honey and Sweetness, and though Sir William Walter's House was not above a dozen Miles from thence, his Adopted Brother all safe and secure, sleeps in the soft Arms of his young Bride with all the Rapture of Pleasure and Delight. After three Revelling days were spent in Feasting and Joy, the Father-in-Law and himself enter in a close Cabinet Consult about providing for Family and Settlement. He tells the Old Man, that truly his Brother the Knight will undoubtedly take no little Dudgeon at this Match, not that he cares a Farthing for't. He has Married the only Creature of the World he can Love, and he is resolved to Cherish her accordingly. But however, to manage Affairs with Discretion, he thinks it his best Prudence and Policy, to get his Trunks and the Writings of his Estate safe out of his Brother's Hands, before he publishes the Marriage. And for that purpose he has no better way than for his Father-in-Law to help him to a small Cart and a couple of able Horses, and to drive to his Brothers, and take up his Trunks, &c. And considering he had laid out all his ready Money in Cattle at Brayle Fair, he desired the favour of him to furnish him with Ten Pounds, that he might not be unprovided with a little of the Ready about him, in case of any Rupture between his Brother and himself, till he could furnish himself better amongst his Tenants.

The Old Man very readily embraced this reasonable proposition, and though truly the Summ of Ten Pounds was above his Stock, nevertheless living in Repute amongst his Neighbors, through great Solicitation, some forty and some thirty Shillings, and such like Summs, with much ado he raises the Ten Pounds desired; and more and above he procures two very Able Horses and a Cart to bring away the Treasure aforesaid, &c.

By this time his Man Tom having Sold the Cattle, is come to wish his Noble Master Joy of his fair Bride, and so the Master and Tom attended by a Brother of his Bride, an Honest Country Swain, who though so highly honoured with this new Affinity, is at present planted in no higher a Post than to be a Mate with his Man Tom to drive the Cart, set forwards, &c.

The Brother-in-Law, Cheek by Jowl, with the fore-Horse of his small Team, drives on very merrily for about Nine of the Twelve Miles to Sir William's, entertaining his Worshipful Relation with the very best Tune he could Whistle all the way they travell'd.

But now within Three Miles of home, our politick Bridegroom thinks it advisable, that one of his Carters, the Brother, should make a Halt at an Alehouse where they stopp'd, and the whole Manage of the Cart and Horses be intrusted with Tom, for fear the sight of a Stranger to come to take up Goods at his Brother's might give occasion of Curiosity and Inquiry, whereas Tom, an old Servant in the Family, with less Suspision and Inspection might do it.

These strong Reasons (or indeed weaker would have served turn) were satisfactory enough, and so the Gentleman Equipping his Brother Clodpate with a George to stay and Drink till they returned, the Master and Man fairly drive on, for the remaining three Miles to bring off the Bag and Baggage, &c.

The Potent Summ of a whole Half Crown to be laid out in Ale, set in our Country Youth to a hearty Carouse with the kind Hostess of the House, where the Esquires Health was over and over remembred, not forgetting the Great Man at the Great House about Three Miles off; where, as simple a Country Fellow as he was, he expected one day to be better acquainted.

But to draw this Adventure towards a Conclusion, our waiting Carter long expecting the return of the Brother, the Palfries and the Cargo, notwithstanding the Strength of powerful Ale, and his Sweet Land-Ladies diverting Company, began at last to be Impatient; sometimes he fancied the Loading was too heavy for the Poor Beasts, and he thought it his best way to walk out and see if he could meet them: But all Inquiry was in vain, Night at last drew on, and the best part of his Half-crown melted down; at last, though very Uneasie and Restless, he is perswaded by his kind Hostess to take a hard Nap till Morning. The Cock was not so soon awake as he, for to tell Truth, he ne're slept at all, though indeed he dreamt all Night, for he could not think less, than that some Retainers of the Family had undoubtedly followed the Cart, and Murder'd the Squire to run away with the Treasure, and what his poor Sister would suffer to be a Widow so early, was little less than a mortal Apprehension. Thereupon very betimes in the morning he pads to Sir William's, and very earnestly enquires, what was become of the Squire, the Knights Brother. Sir William's Brother, reply'd the Servants, we know none he has; 'tis true, he had one some years beyond Sea, but whether dead or alive, is more than any Man upon English Ground (God wott) can tell. How! no Brother-in-law Squire! No Sir William's Family! No Sister like to be a Lady, nor Brother a Gentleman! nor no Horses nor Cart neither! This staggering Account, put him into so doleful a Dumps, that he stood almost Thunderstruck. And truly the twelve Miles home agen, was so tedious a Journey, and the lamentable Narrative he must make 'em at home, so killing a Fancy, that it was a great Mercy he did not make a stay upon some convenient Twig in some Hedge in the Road, rather than live to be the Messenger of such a woful, sad Tale—But ill News at last must out. The Bird and the Beasts were all flown; the poor Bride sweetly brought to Bed, a Cart and two Horses to pay for, a Son-in-law to find when the Devil was blind, the Daughters sweet play thing lost, the Father and Mother dipt ten whole pounds in Chalk, and the whole Family under the suffering of a whole Chamberpot full of waylings and Tears for their Calamities and Misfortunes.

But to return to our Rover: By the sale of Cart and Team, ten pound in Cole the last lump, and the price of his Kine the other, his Pockets were pretty well lined; and considering this spot might soon grow too hot for him, he thinks it wisest to shift the Scene, and thereupon dismissing, for some time, his Man Tom, who had pretty well lick'd his Fingers in so profitable a Service, our Grasier now transmogrifies into a Spark, and very sprucely rigg'd, takes a ramble Westward, where meeting with no Adventure worth recital, in some small time he gets to Ludlow. There taking up the first Night at an Inn, his Garb (though unattended by Servants) soon made him good Reception; his first enquiry was to learn out the Eminentest People in the Town, of which being readily inform'd by the Drawers; he learnt, amongst other Relations, that there was a Substantial Wealthy Tradesman, had two pretty Marriageable Daughters: Being directed to the House, he addresses to the Father, telling him he was a Barkshire Gentleman, and intending to make some small abode in Ludlow, he did not think fit to continue in a Publick House, but would gladly gain admission to some private Family. The Tradesman (whose name we will not mention) being a Widower, and taken with the manner of his Discourse, kindly invited him to his own House, which our Travelling Gallant as kindly embracing, Accommodation was made, and he was lodged that very Night at this private Landlords.

His entrance here gave him the opportunity of daily conversing with no mean wit and charms in the two sweet Daughters of the Family; and our Gallant, very apt to take fire at but a small matter of Beauty, especially with a Portion at the Tail of it, felt no little wamblings at the extraordinary accomplishments of the elder, somewhat the sweeter Creature. But this new Adventure was not an enterprise so easie as the last; this Sire of some fashion, was so far above the Education and Extract of his former Father-in-Law, a Man of Mortar and Trowel; and his Daughters of a reach and understanding so much beyond the others humbler capacity; that measures must be quite alter'd here from those that he took before. Accordingly now his discourse was always upon Foreign subjects, himself and his own affairs the least part of his talk; and if any inquisitive question, either by Father or Daughters were made relating to his Family or Concerns, he answered with that Modesty, and almost silence to all demands of that kind, that he left their curiosity still in the dark; and which indeed was so much a heightning to the favourable imaginations they had conceived of him; that they doubted not in the least, but he was of eminent Quality; and what any boasting Vanity would have made 'em rather suspect, his Modesty on the contrary confirm'd. 'Twas some few days before they inquired his name, for which he had ready at his Tongue's end, the name of a very great Family in Barkshire; but not descending to particulars, the remoteness of the place did not gain 'em much intelligence of his Quality from only the bare name. All this while, at some little distance, he dropt a great many complaisant words to the elder Sister, which look'd very much like Love, and which he indeed desired should be so interpreted. In this Conversation, now of a Fortnights continuance, he had rendred himself so acceptable to the whole Family, that a great many favourable thoughts on all sides inclined towards him. The Address to the Daughter, at last looked a little more plain and barefac'd, and at that time a Fair happening at Ludlow, where he had been diverting himself with seeing of Fashions, he came home in much Concern, and some kind of Passion, much greater than hitherto they had at any time seen from him. "Certainly there is no place in the world (says he passionately) so retir'd, but some Devil or other will still find out and haunt me." The odness of this expression invited the elder Sister to ask him what he meant. "Why truly, Madam, (he replied) I have been hunted from three or four Towns already, for in spight of all my resolutions of living incognito, some unlucky Person or other comes full in my mouth, and will betray me in spight of my Soul." This answer did but heighten her Curiosity, and having, as she thought, some little Interest in him as a profest Servant of hers, she was a little the bolder in pressing the Question; and therefore plainly ask'd him why he liv'd incognito, and what accident had now discovered him: To this at last, with a little more frankness than he had hitherto used, he replied, the reason of his Ramble from his Family, with his Living three or four Months past unknown to the whole World, was only to prevent the ruine of a Sister, who like a foolish Girl, was in much danger to be undone by a Beggerly Match she was too fond of; and her Portion being in his hands, he had absented himself from his home, left the softness of her tears, the importunities of several Advocate's in behalf of this indigent Lover, together with the weakness of his own tender heart, might at last be prevail'd upon to grant his consent to what he knew would be his shame and her undoing. And as ill luck would have it, he had unfortunately tumbled upon a Countryman of his, now at the Fair, who would infallibly run open mouth'd to his Sister and his Family, and tell 'em all where he was. This discovery gave a good occasion to the fair Examiner to be not only a Pleader for her own Sex in the Person and cause of his unknown Sister, but likewise to be a Champion for Love. For now she plainly told him, that a great many grains of allowance were to be made, where hearts were inseparable. If this Lover of his Sisters was a man of Sense and Quality (as neither of those he could deny him) it was a little barbarous in him to oppose the whole Repose and Contentment of so near a Relation as a Sister, for so sordid a consideration as a little Worldly Interest. Besides, there was a Providence always attended Faith and Truth in Love, and undoubtedly sooner or later would provide for their well-being, or else enable 'em to bear a meaner portion of Riches, which others perhaps might, less contentedly, possess. This argument was almost the daily discourse, in which she seem'd to gain some little ground, but not enough to perswade him to the unreasonable Grant of his Sisters desires.

About five days after comes a Letter directed to him at Ludlow, with the Post Mark upon it very authentically, which in a very legible Woman's hand contained these words.

Dear Brother,

WHat unhappy Star am I born under, to suffer all this miserable Persecution? Certainly, when my Father left me to your disposal, and tied my Portion to your liking of the man that must marry me, surely he could never have died reconciled to Heaven, could he have foreseen the Slavery he tied his poor Child to, in putting me into the power of so cruel a Brother. To run so many Months from your House, your Family, nay, your Honour too, (for what must the censuring world talk of you) and all to break a poor Sister's Heart. Oh shameful! to hide your self from the World, and run from Mankind, only to shut your Ears against Justice, and to be deaf to all Goodness and Humanity! Alas, what Capital Crime have I committed, who only loved a Gentleman, in Birth and Blood no ways my Inferiour; and what if an unfortunate Younger Brother's slender Patrimony of a Hundred a Year, is not answerable to a Portion of Two thousand Pounds. A wonderful Cause to make me the most unhappy Creature living, in refusing me the only Blessing the World has to give. How many fair steps to Preferment and Honour lye in the way of so accomplish'd and so well Related a Gentleman, notwithstanding his Elder Brother run away with the Estate; and what good Fortune have I not to hope for, if your Barbarous Aversion did not interpose between my Felicity and me. In short, resolve to return home, and be kind to your languishing, and almost despairing Sister, or else expect very speedily to be visited by her at your Bedside in her Winding-sheet. For if Ghosts can walk, and your Barbarity has sworn my Death, expect to be eternally haunted, as you shall deserve from——

Your Distracted——

The next Post four or five Letters more came after him; one from his Bayliff, to desire him, for God's sake to come home again; for the Devil a Farthing would his Tenants pay till they saw their Landlord. A second from one of his Tenants, complaining of his bad Crop, and the low price of Corn, and that unless he would bate him Twenty pound a Year Rent, he could never hold his Farm; earnestly desiring his Worship to come home, and take care of his poor Tenants, &c. A third condoling his Misfortune in the loss of his Eldest Son, and desiring to see his Sweet Worship's Face, that he might get him to put his Second Boy's Life into his Copy-hold; and others of the like Import.

These Letters our Spark left in his Closet Window, and one whole day going abroad, by a pretended Negligence, he shot the Bolt of his Closet Lock out of the Staple, and so left his Door a-jar, and his Letters expos'd to any body that would please to read 'em. This Stratagem succeeded to his Wish, for the Daughter, whom I may now call his Mistress, knowing him safe abroad, had dropt into his Chamber when the Maid was making the Bed, and finding the Closet Door open, made bold to peep, and spying his Letters there, tips the wink upon the Maid, whom she made of the Council, and read 'em all out. The Contents put her mightily upon the gog; for certainly she concluded he must be a Man of a mighty Estate, so many Tenants, and the Lord knows what; and if a Sister had Two thousand Pounds, what must an Elder Brother possess. After she had conjured the Maid to silence, she could not forbear running to her Father, and telling him all she had discover'd: The Father at first a little reprimanded her Curiosity, but considering he had found out a Love Intrigue between his Daughter and him, he thought it no unwelcome discovery. At last looking very stedfastly upon his Daughter's Face, with a sort of a kind fatherly leer, he cry'd, Ah Child, would he were a Bed with thee. How, Father, reply'd the Girl blushing. Nay no harm (quoth the Father) Chicken, that's all. Thou sayst he makes love to thee, and troth I must own it no small part of my Ambition to have a Person of his Quality and Fortunes for a Son-in-law. In short, The Father gave her very seasonable Admonition; for having sounded her Inclinations, and found 'em to his own wish, with a Fatherly Authority he commanded her, if his Addresses hinted at Marriage, to make him all reasonable Advances that way.

Our Gallant found his Plot had taken; for he had critically observed in what most particular manner and station to a quarter of an inch he had laid his Letters; and finding all of 'em displaced more or less from the exact point he had left 'em, he plainly perceived they had all of 'em been read. Besides, in compliance to her Father's Orders, and indeed a little to her own Inclinations, he discover'd her usual Coldness to him a little diminish'd, and her Aspect more favourable, which plainly told him the Bait had taken. Whereupon one Evening finding her alone in her Garden, with a confidence more than usual, he plainly spoke home, telling her what an inestimable Blessing he should acquire in possessing so much sweetness for a Wife.

A long Courtship ensued, the Particulars too tedious, only the Girl was a little more pliant than ordinary, but much doubting the integrity of his Protestations; alledging it was very unlikely he would debase himself to marry a Creature of her mean Fortune, for all she could at present challenge, except what her Father might do for her after his decease, was only a 100l. left her in her Father's hands by an Uncle deceas'd. Our Gallant presently with much disdain seem'd to slight all thoughts of her Fortune, for that, he thank'd Heav'n, he wanted not; and truly her dear Person was the only consideration that had fix'd his Heart intirely her Captive. To bring him to the happy point, 48 hours are not past, before he comes to reap the fair Fruit. The marriage-knot is tied; and the Nuptials consummated, and Joy and Felicity runs high between them.

In this happy State, and uninterrupted Delights, they continued some days, when of a sudden his old Servant, Tom, booted and spurr'd, comes to Ludlow, and now in a little higher station than before, in the garb and figure of one of his Bayliffs, he comes post thus far, first to tell him the Distraction of his Family occasion'd by his absense; 2dly, The Lady his Sister's sudden departure, God knows whither, for she went away by night two days before he set out from home, and has not been heard of since. And that a Letter was come from Bristol, intimating that his Venture in Sherry was safely landed there, and that the King's Customs came to 97l. but his Correspondent at Bristol being lately dead, the Custom was yet unsatisfied; and truly for his part none of the Tenants would pay him one Groat till they saw their Landlord again, and therefore he could not raise the Money to satisfy it. Our new Bridegroom hearing all this, presently communicates the whole matter to his sweet Bedfellow, desiring her to get her Father to accommodate him with that Sum; not that he ask'd it as any part of her Unkle's Legacy, he scorned to be so poor-spirited; no, he requested it as a Boon, and the Monies should speedily be repaid with Thanks: Which if he pleas'd to do for him, his Servant should fall down the Severn, and take care of his Wines, of which his dear Father-in-law should have one Hogshead to drink to her Hans in Keldar. The Daughter was a speedy and successful Embassadress, for the Money was presently laid him down in Gold, for the more ease of his Servant's carriage of it. Tom had not been two hours gone, but a Footboy in a very fine Livery brings him a Letter from his Sister, signifying her extreme Concern for his deserting his Affairs and Family, and that her Griefs and Disquiets had made her take a long Ramble to see him once more. And that she was now at Hereford, not daring to approach any nearer till she had his gracious Warrant and Permission, which she humbly upon her bended Knees intreated of him, with a great deal more passionate Courtship to him upon that Subject. Upon perusal of this Letter he seem'd to melt into a great deal of good nature and compassion for his dear Sister, insomuch that a Tear stood in his Eyes which his sweet Bride very kindly drank in a kiss. At length launching out into a great many tender Expressions towards his Sister, which Goodness his kind Bride much applauded and encouraged, throwing in many a kind word in her Sisters behalf; At last the Brother concluded he would be so civil to her, that since her extravagant Affection had brought her thus far to visit him, he would return her the Favour of Riding himself to Hereford to fetch her, if his kind Father would procure him a Horse. Ay, with all his heart. Nay, both Father and Daughter proffer'd to take the same Journey with him to pay their Respects to the young Lady, and attend upon her as part of her Train to Ludlow. No, by no means, replied our Spark; that was more than the Rules of Honour would allow: for his dear Bride, as his Wife, was a Person in Quality above her, and whatever Kindnesses she pleased to show her when at Ludlow, was in her free Power; but this complaisance was too great a Condescension, and consequently he beg'd her leave that the tenderness he had of her Honour might absolutely forbid her any such thought. And indeed his Father's was much the same Condescention, which he must likewise no way suffer.

The Father and Daughter both silenced with this Answer, acquiesced with his Reasons, as being much a more experienced Master of Ceremonies than they could pretend to; consenting to let him go alone only attended by the Sister's Page; in the mean while resolving to apply their officious Respects to this fair, tho yet unknown Relation another way, viz. in making a suitable preparation for her honourable Reception. But first a very stately Horse was borrow'd, one that a Collonel of the Guards had lately bid a lumping Sum for; with all Accoutrements answerable. And at mounting, our Cavalier whispering in his Father's ear, and telling him he had been long from home, and not knowing whether his remaining Stock might hold out to his present Occasions, he desired—— The Father would not hear out the Speech, but running up stairs presently, fetch'd down, and stole into his hand a silk Purse richly lined with Twenty Broad Pieces.

Our Squire thus every way obliged, after his due Conges all made, bids them all Farewel till tomorrow, and so prances off. Here let us leave the Father and Daughter as busy for the Credit of the Cause, as may be imagined, making all suitable Provision for tomorrow's Entertainment; the Kitchin, and Pantry, the Bed-Chamber, and the Court-Cubboard, must all appear in Splendour extraordinary.

And now to return to our Traveller: Heaven knows he had the misfortune to miss his way, for he never found Hereford, nor Sister. His Barb too found another Chapman than the Collonel of the Guards; for both Horse and Accoutrements all embargoed, and the dismounted Cavalier slipt into a Frize-Coat of his Man Tom's providing, who waited his coming, The Master, Page, and Tom, in a small prepared Vessel, troul'd down the Severn as fast as Tide and good Speed could carry them.

As we thunder'd down the Severn, one of our Strollers being at present useless, our Page (well rewarded for playing his part in the Farse) is dropt at Worcester, from whence we continue our Voyage to Bristol. Arrived there pretty late in a Summers Evening, 'tis not thought convenient to appear in any Dress whatever had been seen before at Ludlow, nor indeed to expose his Face, lest any Inquiry might be made there about him as a Sherry-Merchant, and so trunking up all his best Rayment, he gets himself new rigged at a Salesman's in a genteel Garb, but something modester than his Ludlow Bravery, and Tom and he next morning move off to Bath.

It fortunes here, that he Quarters at one of the great Inns, it being the beginning of the Summer, just before Bath time, where was a brisk Daughter of the house, about half way stage between 20 and 30. and consequently much inclinable manwards. A Girl that had had the Honour of many a slap cross the Mouth, and chuck under the Chin by Lords and Earls in her time, her Fathers honourable Guests at Bath season. Our most constant Lover of every new face, feels the old Itch again. Business he finds will thicken upon him, and therefore flusht with his late Successes, he resolves to throw out his winning hand as far as it will run.

But now to know what Portion this Damsel had, for without a spill of yellow Boys, naked White and Red has but indifferent Charms with him. This Intelligence was quickly made, without asking the question; for there was a Jest in the Family of one of the Drawers being Suitor there, who belike wanted a tite sum of 80l. to set up withal (a small Portion of hers formerly left her by a Grandfather, and now at use.) This Drawer forsooth was a Rival, but not an over-formidable one. For truly our Inn-keepers Daughter had so often been tickled with the Addresses of Quality, that (Foh!) her Fathers Drawer was scarce worthy to hold up her Train. A Gentleman, or nothing for her. Nay, if she has not the happiness to strike in for a Lease for Life at Bed and Board with some honourable Person, rather than dye in ignorance, keep a stale Maiden-head, and so lead Apes, she has long since resolved not to stand out at a lower game, and en'e admit a Tenant at Will to an Inmate of Fashion and Quality; and was grosly suspected she had tried the Constitution of her Body, under a load of Honour long before her present year of twenty five. But true or false, that's a small Blot, in her Scutchion.

Our Don John is absolutely captivated, and plies her home with all the Rhetorick that Love can afford. Our man Tom in the meanwhile but very modestly, is whispering amongst his Mates, the lower Tire of the Family, the Servants, what a Worthy Gentleman his Master is, being a Rich Norfolk Gentleman (a pretty large stride from Bathe) of 500 a year. This Narrative passes pretty well amongst the shallower pates, the Chamberlain, the Tapster, the Hostler, and the rest of the inferior Domesticks; but our hardfaith'd young Mistress of the house, whither bit before, or naturally not over-credulous, does as good as declare, That her Principles are to look before she leaps. Our Norfolk Suitor finds his Addresses very acceptable, but still with a reserve, Provided he be the Man he appears. He plainly sees, that the Girl, upon good Grounds is very pliable, but she's a little past the years of being dandled and kist out of her Reason: He or any man else (any Tooth good Barber) with Honour and Estate may go far with her; but Demonstration is the only Argument that must carry her Cause. As many years as she has lived (or at least past for) a Maid, she is not so hard set, but she can tarry till Substantial Testimony (as far off as Norfolk lies) can make out the Lands and Tenements, before she consents to an Inclosure. Our Spark therefore put to his last Trumps, finds this last a craggier and more difficult Enterprize than any he had ever yet encountred; however, thinking it a very great scandal to his Wit, to lie down before her, and shamefully for want of Ammunition, be forced to raise the Siege, he sets all his Brains at work for one last Mine to blow her up; or if that take not, he is resolved to quit the Field. In a day or two after, he begins to be Melancholly and indisposed; during this fit, he is very cold in his Love, and applies him to Religious Books, talks much of very odd Dreams he has had, till at last he takes his Bed. Physitians are sent for, whether they found any real indications of sickness or no, or acquiesced to his own Declaration of the Pains he felt, no Medicinal Application was wanting. His Distemper increasing, he desires a Man of Law to be sent for, accordingly a Scrivener of the Town is called, who draws up his Will, in which he gives away about Three Thousand pounds in several Legacies, leaving his Nephew his full and sole Executor. The Will is sealed up, and delivered to his Man Tom; and all the cognizance taken of his Mistress, is only 10l. to buy her Mourning. Next a Man of God is sent for, and all the necessary preparations for a Man of another World are made. His Conscience setled, and his Viaticum for his long Journey most devoutly furnisht. But it pleases Fate, or the Sick man rather, in some few days after, to give some small symptoms of amendment, and to shorten the matter, in Eight or Ten days time he is pretty well recovered, and the next talk is of fancying his own Native Norfolk Air for perfecting his Health; all this while the young Damsel, who, tho not call'd to the Will-making, knew all the Contents of it, and finding from all hands, the great uprightness and devotion of her humble Servant, could not fancy that so much Religion and Piety could be an Impostor, and therefore she doubted not in the least, but the Estate in Norfolk was unquestionable; and tho indeed her Prudence would still incline her to a full inquiry and satisfactory account, yet 'tis now too late, her cooling Admirer talks of speeding to London; and tho he professes he will leave his heart behind with her, She is afraid that new Faces and better Fortunes will soon shake her hold there, and therefore taking her Pillow upon the business, she resolves not to slip so favourable an opportunity, but to lay hold of the forelock, and take a good offer whilst she may have it: For with all her natural Pride, she considers her self but the Lees of a Tap; and 'tis not every Rich Gudgeon will bite at a Bait so blown, and so stale.

Her departing Lover still pressing for his Journey, the good-natur'd Girl watches the next amorous sally of her Gallant, and takes him at his word, and without asking advice, thinks her own wit sufficient, and in two days time enters into for better, for worse. The Town-Bells soon rung All Joy; and the best Hogshead in Daddy's Cellar run Claret. His Honourable Guest and Son-in-Law was the little Idol of all the Virgins of the Town, and the envied preferment of sweet Mrs. Betty had fill'd all Tongues; and scarce a Prayer offered up for a Husband, but Mrs. Betty's felicity was made the Pattern of their Devotion.

But now, as the Devil would have it, our dignified Bride is for having her Dear Spouse, by all means, doing her and her Father the honour of staying out the whole Bathe Season (now coming on) amongst 'em, and nothing can divert her from that resolution. This is a very unwelcome proposal; for the multitude of Faces from all quarters of the Kingdom, may not only be very dangerous to his circumstances, but likewise his Norfolk Abilities, long before that time, may be examin'd too narrowly; and therefore not being able to make any harsh refusal of his fair Brides request, lest it should look like design, and to marry a young Girl, and be ashamed of her parentage, would appear so unkind, that he has no Artifice to wean her from Bathe, and drill her out of Town, but by pretending a small relapse of his Indisposition, which he acted so well, that he denied himself the very pleasures of Love, and fell off even from Family-Duties. This Curtain-failure began to moderate her passion for staying at Bathe, for her tame Bedfellow still preaching up the virtues of his own Native Norfolk Air, his poor defeated Bride could not but have a womanly longing for so necessary a Restorative, and thereupon for so important a Medicine to her feeble Yokemate, she consented to go along with him.

All her fine Cloaths were Boxed up, together with several Bed and Table-Linnen, &c. (for she had pretty good Moveables, all the Legacies of Deceased Aunts and Grannies, and other good Kin) and all sent by her Man Tom to the Carriers, and two days after places took in the flying Coach for their speeding to London.

But one main thing was almost forgotten. She had call'd in her Portion, which for a Guinies Gratification the Scrivener had ready at an Hours warning, having at that time some other peoples Money by him undisposed, and hers being out upon Mortgage, the Owners were very well pleas'd to make an Exchange upon the same security. This Money was not to be trusted by the Waggon, but to be carryed up with her in the Coach box, for which her Man Tom beg'd her acceptance of a little Gilt leather'd Trunk that happen'd to be just small enough to go into the Coach-box. The Day of setting out being the Morrow, her thoughtful Spouse had nicely consider'd that the Coach would be in London half a day before the Carrier, which for some Reasons you'll find in the sequel was not altogether for his convenience, and therefore he made a shift to put off the Journey till next Coach-day.

Against that time the Gilt-leather'd Trunk, and the Key to it was deliver'd her, (tho by the by he had got two Keys) and the 80l. some Broad pieces, a Caudle-Cup, half a dozen of Silver Spoons, and some other Toys were all stowed in it; and the Kind Couple are trundling away for London, with the Man well mounted riding by.

Now as a Man of his Estate, he had freely given her all her own Portion, a small Privy Purse to buy her Pins with, having Marryed her only for Beauty, and much disdaining the addition of so small a sum to his plentiful Fortune. The first stage being done (for they had but one Night to lye by the way) the small Cabinet of Treasure was carefully taken out of the Coach, and lodged in a Closet in the Chamber, and next Morning deliver'd to Tom to see safely laid in the Coach-box as before.

The next Night arriving both at London, (whither Tom about Brenford was commanded by his Master to speed a little before to prepare for their Reception) a very fair Lodging near St. James's was ready to entertain her, but no Tom had been there; and coming to open the Trunk, instead of the Gold and Silver Entrayls there was nothing but a Bag of Stones, and a piece of a Brickbat to supply their places, enclosed in a few Rags that stuft up the Trunk. This amazing sight threw the poor Lady into a most violent Distraction, and 'twas very hard to hold her from falling into a Fit, her Husband seeming as much amazed as her self, and joining in the complaint as loud as she. But to abate her Rage, he told her the wicked Rogue should not so scape, he had very sufficient security from able Friends for his honest and faithful service, and their Purses should make her Reparation, till when the Loss should be made up out of his own Pocket. Nor would he sleep till he had made her some farther satisfaction, and therefore beg'd her Excuse but for one half Hour till he took Coach, and made that search and quest that perhaps would bring her some considerable Light into the Villany. Her Zeal for her Loss never look'd any farther, and accordingly well pleas'd with the Kind Motion, she took leave of him for the half Hour aforesaid.

But, alas, a long half Hour, for half the Evening, nay the whole Night was gone, and neither Man nor Master to be heard of. So Husband and Portion all departed, she thought fit to secure her Goods and Cloaths at the Carriers, but the same Calamity attended there likewise, for Tom had been there too, and swept all.

To describe the Distress and Anguish of our present Female Sufferer, or either of her two foregoing Sisters in Affliction, being a work beyond our power, we shall e'ne do as the Painter did of old, that is, draw a Vail before the Face of sorrow, the Lineaments of true Grief being above the Pen or Pencils skill.

And now to follow our Libertine through all his Rambles and Exploits in this wide Town of London, (for there lyes his next Scene) being matter we have not yet fully been inform'd in, we dare not venture to play the Historian any farther than certain Intelligence (which yet we have not received) can guide us, being resolved not to load our Rambles with Romance or Fiction, his Life being furnisht with matter sufficiently voluminous without the addition of Flourish or Fancy.

Let it suffice that some time after all these three successive Adventures, the poor Ludlow VVife comes up to London, being the last place she has to make her quest after this Impostor and Monster, for those are the gentlest Names her Sufferings and Resentments can give him. She has a great Opinion that Newgate or Newgate Roll, or some other such Chronicles of his Renown will give her some light into his Life and Fortune, and perhaps the Justice of Heaven afford her a sight of him at least, if not a power to execute Heavens and her just Vengeance on so egregious a Reprobate.

Her Inn being at Holborn Bridge, she lights into the Company of a good Motherly VVoman just come from Oxfordshire; the sorrow in so young a Face, and the swoln Eyes which were not yet dryed, the Fountain being indeed inexhaustible, the Curiosity of the Elder Traveller made bold to ask her the cause of so doleful a look, &c. The young one (who now had no Reserves) plainly told her whole sufferings, to which the Matron replyed, Alas young VVoman, what are your griefs to mine? I have been many years the VVife of the most Infamous Miscreant that the Earth ever bore; deserted and abandoned by the wickedest of Men, after long years of Honest and Loyal Fidelity to his Bed, and exposed to perish (which you, thanks to able Friends, need not fear) &c. with a great deal more bitter Invectives against him. Till at last upon further conferring of Notes, and describing of Characters and Persons they came to jump together, and found 'emselves both abused by the very same Monster, the eldest being indeed his old Banbury Wife. What Amazement this Accident produced may easily be conjectured, it will be enough to tell you that the Anguish of both their Souls, and the Bitterness of Gall on each side made 'em Swear an inviolable Friendship, determining to search (if possible) the whole World, to hunt down this Devil. Accordingly they take a Lodging a little higher in Holborn, where making no secret of both their hard cases, they open their whole Souls to their new Landlady to engage her assistance in the Quarrel. The Landlady Transported at both their Narrations fell upon her Knees, and blest God he had sent 'em to her House, for this Lucifer they had described, was certainly the very Man that next Week was to Marry her Daughter. This surprize put 'em all into new Confusion, and the Daughter being called to the Council, it was evident that this very Fellow had made Love to the Daughter of the House, the day of Marriage concluded, the Ring and Wedding Cloaths preparing, &c. This last Deliverance made the poor old Woman, and the Daughter no less, melt into Tears at this happy Discovery.

Well, 'tis agreed between 'em all, that they shall not stir till he comes thither, which will be in twenty four Hours at most; and all their united Vengeance, Constables, Warrants, and what not, shall be prepar'd for his Reception.

This Resolution was heartily fix'd amongst 'em; only the Banbury Wife would that Evening take a walk to a Cozens, a Citizen, where she had some important Affairs, but nothing should stay her abroad above an Hour; she had not walk'd half a Furlong but Destiny or some other ruling Power threw her full in the Mouth of her Husband; her Passion at sight of him rose so high, that at first it could not find vent for words, which he perceiving desired her to walk into a Tavern which was just before 'em, and there recover her Confusion. You may conceive she was very ready to accept the Invitation, her Stomach being so full, that 'twas the only thing she wanted to have her full swing at him. The Discourse of her part you may well guess at; but his Answer was so tender, and his Confession so open, that at last she grew patient enough to hear him out. He plainly told her all he had done, or at least the greatest part: that it was only the Effects of his Wants and Necessities, that now he had rais'd enough to re-establish him in the World, that the Hony Moon of Love had been almost over between them, and that if he had made any Lapse in Disloyalty to her Marriage Right, it was not Infidelity but Interest that had enforced him to all. And so showing her handfuls of Gold and Silver, he humbly intreated a Reconciliation betwixt 'em. Which good Words and Address at last so perfectedly obtained, that he perswaded her to send for all her Houshold Goods, and to live with him somewhere in the Liberties of Westminster, where disguising his Name, and amending his Faults, he doubted not through his practice to recover a plentiful Being, and maintain her like a Woman.

The poor Creature absolutely mollified, promises Fidelity to him, and never returning to her new Lodgings, takes him along with her, defeating the whole Vengeance that was hatching against him, and not stirring from him till all her Goods were come up from Banbury, and a new House furnisht with 'em. She had not lived there three days, till finding a Gossiping Errand for her to keep her from home a whole day, at her Return at Night to Bed, she finds neither Husband nor Goods, Bed to lye, or Stool to sit upon; the whole House being utterly dismantled, and nothing but nakedness and empty Walls to receive her.

This last Cruelty of her Barbarian made her almost run stark Mad, and returning to her Holborn Lodging to own her frailty in believing an Infidel, and the Just Judgment that had befaln her upon it, she found the poor Ludlow Mourner departed, and all her Relief left was to return to Banbury to live upon the Alms of the Parish.

This Libertine Life of our Renegade did not long continue till found at last by the Ludlow Wife he was thrown into Worcester Jail; from thence by Habeas Corpus (at the Charge of a Parson in Southwark whose Daughter he had likewise Married) removed to Newgate, & upon an Indictment of six Wives appearing against him, being then Tryed by the Name of Morrel alias Bowyer (a Name of a Worthy Person of Quality, for personating of whom he had stood in the Pillory) he pleaded Guilty to those six and twelve more, and thereby received only the punishment of a Squeeze in the Fist.

After this Escape of a Halter, what his following Adventures have been we are not informed: 'tis to be believed his Will was no ways wanting, though his power of managing such hardy Exploits might undoubtedly be a little retrencht: and therefore we have reason to conclude he fell into smaller Games, in which his Walks have lain something more obscure, and thereupon by reason of our unacquaintance with the Truth of that part of his Life, we shall over-leap some years, and bring him to his Conclusion.

Some few days before Christmas he came to one Mr. Cullens a Baker in the Strand to seek him a Lodging, his Habit but indifferent, and his Stock not above Two Shillings, pretending himself to be a Person of Worth and Honour, viz. Humphrey Wickham of Swaclift in the County of Oxon Esq; a Person whose Name and Reputation was well known to Mrs. Cullen, being Born not far from him, which contributed much to the swallowing of the Imposture. His pretence for leaving his Family in the Countrey, and living here Incognito was occasion'd (he said) to avoid the payment of 500l. which he stood engaged for, and for which the principal had left him in the lurch; and which he had made a rash Vow he would not pay.

Mr. Cullen's Family thus imposed upon supplied all his wants, and paid him the due Respects to the Quality he Personated, till falling sick, on the 28th of December he made a Will, as follows.

His WILL.

In the name of God, Amen. I Humphrey Wickham of Swatclift, in the County of Oxon Esquire; being sick and weak in Body, but of sound Mind and Memory, do make this my last WILL and TESTAMENT, revoking all Wills by me formerly made: And as touching such Worldly Estate as God hath been pleased to bless me withal, I do hereby give and bequeath the same in manner following.

Imprimis, I do give, devise, and bequeath, to my Kinsman William Wickham, of Gazington, in the County of Oxon, all that my Mansion House of Swaclift aforesaid; and all the Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments thereunto belonging, to hold unto him the said William Wickham, and his Heirs for ever.

Item, I give and bequeath unto John Cullin, Son of Thomas Cullin, of the Parish of St. Clement Danes, in the County of Middlesex, Baker, all that my impropriated Personage of Sowgrate, in the County of Northampton, with the Rents, Issues, and Profits thereof.

Item, I give unto Anne Cullin, Sister of the said John Cullin, the Summ of Two hundred and fifty Pounds.

Item, I give unto Thomas Cullin, Son of the said Thomas Cullin, the Sum of Three hundred Pounds.

Item, I give unto Dorothy Halford of Halford, in the County of Warwick, the Sum of two hundred Pounds.

Item, I give unto Richard Davis, Son of William Davis of the said Parish of St. Clement Danes, the Sum of Four hundred Pounds.

Item, I give unto William Davis, Son of the said William Davis, the Summ of Two hundred Pounds.

Item, I give unto Anne Fowkes, for her Care and Diligence in Looking after me in my Sickness, the Sum of one hundred pounds.

Item, I give unto Robert Croker, Son of William Croker of Sanford, in the said County of Oxon (being my God-son) the Sum of Five hundred Pounds.

Item, I give unto the said William Croker, the Sum of Five hundred Pounds.

Item, I give unto Robert Penniston, Son of Sir Thomas Penniston, and younger Brother to Sir Farmalis Penniston of Cornhill, in the said County of Oxon the Sum of Three hundred Pounds.

Item, I give unto Mrs. Jane Penniston, Sister of the said Mr. Robert Penniston, the Summ of Two hundred Pounds.

Item, I do hereby give, devise, and bequeath, all my Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments whatsoever, called by the name of Apple-tree Ducy, in Cropridee, in the County of Northampton, unto John Brooking of Rashly, in the County of Devon, Esquire, and the said William Davis senior, and Thomas Cullin senior, and the Survivor of them, and their Heirs, and the Survivor of them upon Trust and Confidence: Nevertheless, that they the said John Brooking, William Davis, and Thomas Cullin, shall sell and dispose of the same; and out of the Money thereby raised, pay, or cause to be paid, the respective Legacies herein before bequeathed unto the said Anne Cullin, Thomas Cullin Junior, Dorothy Halford, Richard Davis, William Davis Junior, and Anne Fowkes. And whereas I have herein before bequeathed unto my Kinsman Will. Wickham, and his Heirs, all my Mansion-house at Swacklift aforesaid, with the Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments thereunto belonging; my true Will and Meaning is, That the same Devise is upon this special Trust and Confidence, That the said William Wickham shall pay, or cause to be paid, the several Legacies herein before bequeathed unto the said Rob. Croker, and Will. Croker, Robert Penniston, and Jane Penniston; and also pay and discharge one Bond for the Principal Sum of five hundred pounds, with Interest, which I became bound for with Thomas Walker, to one Thomas Irons, any thing herein before contained, to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding; and also that he the said William Wickham, shall out of his Legacy, and Lands, and Premises aforesaid, to him devised, pay, or cause to be paid unto my Executors hereafter named, the Sum of five hundred pounds, to be by them bestowed, distributed, or employed for the use and benefit of the Poor of the Parish of Swacklift aforesaid, in such manner as they, or the major part of them shall think fit and convenient.

Item, I give and bequeath unto the said John Brooking out of the Moneys that shall be raised of the Sale of the said Lands and Tenements, called Apple-tree Ducy aforesaid, the Summ of Five hundred Pounds: And all the rest and residue of the Moneys that shall be thereby raised, I do hereby give and bequeath unto the said William Davies Senior, and Thomas Cullin Senior, to be equally divided between them and the Survivor of them.

Item, I give and bequeath unto Alice Cullin, Wife of the said Thomas Cullin Senior, the Sum of Six hundred Pounds to her own proper Use and Disposal.

Item, I give and bequeath in like manner the Sum of Six hundred Pounds unto Jane Davis, the Wife of the said William Davis.

Item, I give unto the said Robert Croker and Will. Croker, the Sum of Ten Pounds a piece to buy them Mourning: and also to each of them a Ring of Twelve Shillings.

Item, I give unto Jane Croker and Mary Croker; and also to the said Robert Penniston, and Jane Penniston, and all other my Legates herein before mentioned, and to every of them the Sum of Ten Pounds a piece to buy them Mourning, and a Ring of Twelve Shillings.

Item, Whereas I have the Sum of Seven hundred Pounds lying at Interest in the hands of Mr. Ambrose Holbitch, in the name of Oliver Charles, my Servant, I do hereby give and bequeath the same to and amongst my Four Servants, Oliver Charles, John Harber, Sarah Winn, and Margery Smith, and the Survivor of them, to be equally divided amongst them, share and share alike.

Item, I give and bequeath my Three Geldings, and all my Accoutrements belonging to them unto the said John Brookeing, William Davis Senior, and Thomas Cullin, Senior, viz. my Bright Bay Gelding to the said Thomas Cullin, and my Black Gelding to the said William Davis, and my Dapple-grey Gelding to the said John Brookeing. All the Arrears of Rent in my Tenants Hands at the time of my Decease I do hereby freely acquit and discharge. And all the rest and Residue of my Personal Estate, not herein before devised, after my Debts, Legacies and Funeral Expences, paid and discharged, I do hereby give and bequeath unto my said Kinsman William Wickham.

And, lastly. I do hereby nominate, constitute and appoint the said William Wickham, John Brooking, William Davis senior, and Thomas Cullin senior, Executors of this my Will; hereby revoking and making void all other, and former Will or Wills by me made.

In Witness whereof I the said Humphrey Wickham have to this my last Will, containing one side of a Sheet of Paper, and almost half the back, thereof, set my Hand and Seal this Twentieth day of Decemb. Anno Dom. 1691.

Humphrey Wickham.

Signed, Sealed, Published and Declared in the presence of us, with the words (Will. Wickham) being first interlined, Rob. Smith, Jo. Chapman, Rich. Chapman, Mart. Pinckard.

I, the above-named Humphrey Wickham, having omitted out of my Will above-mentioned, the Disposition of my Estate in Huntingtonshire, do hereby make this Addition to, and part of my said Will, in manner following: I give and bequeath all my Lands, Tenements and Hereditaments, called Pryor's Farm, and all other my Estate in Holly-well and Needingworth, unto the above-named John Brooking, William Davis senior, and Tho. Cullin senior, and the Survivor of them, and their Heirs, and the Heirs of the Survivor of them, under this special Trust and Confidence, that the said Jo. Brooking, William Davis, and Thomas Cullin, shall sell and dispose of the same; and out of the Moneys thereby raised, pay, or cause to be paid the respective Legacies hereafter named; viz. I give and bequeath to Humphrey Longford the sum of six hundred pounds, and to his Sister Mary Longford the like sum of six hundred pounds.

Item, I give and bequeath unto the said Tho. Cullin Sen. the further Sum of 800 l. and all the Remainder of the Moneys thereby raised, I give and bequeath unto the said Will. Davis Sen. and Jane his Wife, and the Survivor of them.

Item, Whereas I have by Will above-said, given unto John Cullin, Son of the said Thomas Cullin, the impropriated Parsonage of Sowgrave; my true meaning is, That I do give and devise the same to the said John Cullin, and his Heirs for ever. In Witness whereof, I the said Humphrey Wickham have to this Codicil Addition, or further part of my said Will, set my Hand and Seal, this Twenty eighth Day of December, Anno Dom. 1691.

Humphrey Wickham.

Signed, Sealed, Published, and Declared, in the Presence of us, Robert Smith, John Chapman, Rich. Chapman, Martin Pinkard. Probatum fuit, &c.

This stupendious confidence of a dying man is very amazing, nay he drove on the Masquerade at that strange rate, that he may be truly said to have ended as he began, having received the blessed Sacrament, pretended the settlement of his Conscience, and making peace with Heaven with that seeming sincerity, as if he had resolved to prevaricate with God with the same assurance he had all along done with Mankind. The credulity of these deluded persons his Landlord, and the rest, is not much to be wonder'd at, when the last Gasps of Death could carry so fair an Hypocrisie, and their Transports for his extravagant Legacies bequeathed 'em are rather to be pittied then rediculed. And if they have been faulty in any little over-fondness of their imaginary good fortune, the Jests and Gibes they have received, have been their sufficient punishment; besides Mr. Cullin's being run out of above 30l.

After his Death care was taken to provide him a Coffin of about 10l. value, and the Embalmers were paid for some of their Office of preserving him sweet, till preparations for a solemn and sumptuous Funeral could be made, suitable to the remains of the honourable Deceased. And this Letter was sent as follows.

Sir,

THESE serve to inform you that Humphrey Wickham Esquire of Swaclift in the County of Oxon died this morning at my House where he has been about ten days; He has made his Will, and you are one of his Executors with me and others; A very great share of his Estate is given to you; therefore pray Sir speed to London, that we may take care of his Funeral and other matters necessary to be done upon this occasion.

I think it may not be amiss that you keep this private, lest any thing may be Purloyned or Imbezelled by any of the deceaseds Servants, or any else at his Seat at Swaclift, which is all given to you, some Legacies thereout to be paid; I am, Sir,

Your Servant

Tho. Cullin.

London 3. January 169-1/2. From my House at the Wheat-sheaf near St. Clements Church over against Arundel Street. Strand.

To Mr. William Wickham of Gazington inquire at the Blew Boars Head in Oxon.

These following Lines were inclosed from the aforesaid Executors in the said Letter being left by the deceased.

WHereas, I Humphrey Wickham Esquire, in Company with my own man John Harbert, and John Austin, Son of Nich. Austin, did carry a black Hoggs Skin Trunk, marked with the Letters

H. W. 1688.

Wherein are the Deeds of my Estate at Sowgrave and Apple-tree Ducy; these are to desire you to deliver them to the Executors, signed with his own Name, thus

Humphrey Wickham

Memorandum, there are two Mortgages in the hands of Austin, the one for 1400l. and the other for 400l. In the name of Oliver Charles, in the hands of Mr. Ambrose Holbech.

In answer to this Letter came a Gentleman from Oxford to tell Mr. Cullin, that the Christian name of this Mr. Wickham of Gazington was mistaken, which gave the first Alarm of an Imposture, otherwise Horse and Mourning had been provided to have carried him down to Swackley for his Interment there.

Mr. Cullin being not over apt to believe himself cheated, but more to satisfie the rest of the World, sent down a Messenger to Swackley, with fifteen shillings in his Pocket, mounted upon a poor Hackney, but ordered to return upon the Bright Bay Gelding bequeathed him in his Will; being not convinced of the Delusion till his Messengers Return notwithstanding several persons of Reputation had declared him a counterfeit; & Major Richardson and Mr. Compton had both inspected the Corps, and averred him to be the very man formerly Judged for six Wives as before mentioned, and more than once their Prisoner in Newgate.

The Messenger returning Tuesday the 12th of January he brought a Compliment to the Executors from Captain Wickham, (who had treated the Messenger very civilly,) to this effect; that he gave 'em his hearty thanks for their intended kindness to him, and if they would please to come to Swackley for a Month or more they should be very welcome, and have the use of all the Geldings, viz. the Black, the Bright Bay, and Dapple Grey, tho he could not well part with 'em for good and all.

Upon this full satisfaction received, about three the next Morning with no more than a Watchman and a Lanthorn in a Coffin of four shillings price, he was laid in Earth in a Nook of St. Clements Churchyard.

Postscript.

THE Nurse and Assistants that attended him in his sickness now call to mind, that they once or twice observed him to laugh to himself very pleasantly, which they suppose proceeded from the pleasure he took in cheating the World he was then just upon leaving.

FINIS.

DIEGO REDIVIVUS:

or the

Last WILL

AND

TESTAMENT

Of the Pretended

Humphrey Wickham, Esq;

Alias WILLIAM MORREL,

alias BOWYER, &c.

WITH A

Full RELATION of his Notorious

CHEATS and IMPOSTURES:

Who dyed at Mr. Cullins House, the Third

of this Instant January, in the Parish of

St. Clement Danes, &c.

LICENSED and Entred in the REGISTER-BOOK

of the Company of Stationers.

LONDON, Printed for Abel Roper, at the Mitre

near Temple-Bar. 1692.

ADVERTISEMENT.

This is to give notice, That the Fine COFFIN, mentioned in the following Relation, is to be sold in Shipyard, without Temple-bar.

The Last Will and Testament of the pretended Humphrey Wickham Esq; alias William Morrel, alias Bowyer, &c. with Annotations thereupon.

THE Publick undoubtedly cannot be better entertained, than by the following Relation, of one of the most notorious Cheats as has been known in an Age, which has already made a very amazing Noise in the Town and the Particulars whereof, may be no disacceptable Entertainment.

A Person not over-well Clad, was seen standing gazing about him in the Streets, over-against Arundel-Buildings in the Strand; but the gravity of his Age (being a Person between 50 and 60) invited the Curiosity of Mr. Cullin the Baker, to ask this unknown Person what he wanted? To which he replied, He wanted a Lodging. Upon this, Mr. Cullin very courteously made answer, He should be welcome to his House; which he very easily and readily accepted; and accordingly was received very kindly. Now having no extraordinary Stock of Money, viz. but Two Shillings in his Pocket, he was exposed to the necessity of making use of some Romantick Narrative of his Quality and Condition, to make good his Quarters with so slender a Purse, to hold out payment. Accordingly the Curiosity of his Landlady enquiring what Country-man he was? He replied, Oxfordshire; that his Name was Wickham, a Person of a good Estate near Banbury; and that the occasion of his coming to Town, was only to avoid the payment of 500l. which he stood engaged for by Bond, in behalf of a Person that was run away, and had left him to pay that Money, and which truly he had made an Oath to himself he would never pay; not that the Summ was so considerable to a Man of his plentiful Fortune, only he was resolved to keep his Vow; and that had made him retire a little from being arrested for it.

The Affability and good Language of this Person of imaginary Quality, soon found Credit with his believing Landlord and Landlady, and no Caress was thought kind enough to a Person of his eminent Figure and Extraction. His first entrance into this indulgent Family was about a fortnight before Christmass, where he gained that daily ground, that no Respect could be sufficiently paid him: His little Pocket Strength signified nothing, for his Host was not a little exalted with the Honour of such a Guest under his Roof.

But, as Providence was pleased to order it, his Reign was ordain'd to be but short; for he soon fell into a languishing Sickness, in which time neither Doctor, Apothecary, Nurse, or any other Assistance was wanting.

Now our pretended Captain, what ever other Faults he had, was resolv'd not to be guilty of Ingratitude, and accordingly made an ample Last Will and Testament, and most liberally gave extraordinary large Donations and Legacies to his kind Landlord, &c.

It was very remarkable, that during his Sickness, his Landlord, being Overseer of the Poor, had requested a kind Brother in Office, the Church-Warden, to pay a small Office of Christian Duty to this poor languishing Gentleman; who making him a condoling Visit, with wet Eyes and uplifted Hands, was so kind as to wish his Worship's Soul everlasting Rest, which was seconded by many a repeated sigh from the rest of the Condolers about him: And one more especially, having heard of this great Wind-fall, lamented much his Unhappiness, in not visiting this Gentleman, saying, He was never born to do himself good, having lost by his Negligence at least 1000l. Also another eminent Man of the Parish, being dissatisfied that he did not come in for a Share with the rest of his Neighbours, went and told them, That the Coroner ought to be sent for, and an Enquiry made how he died.

All Care and Application signified but little, for his last Exit was drawing on; in which time, not in the least to shrink from his Character of Quality, he still kept up the Honourable Figure he had so long presented; and accordingly made most prodigious Protestations of Good-will and Acknowledgments to the Family, avowing that the few Hundreds he had bequeathed them, was nothing to what he would do for 'em, if please God to lengthen his Life to serve them and theirs.

And now having performed the Part of a good Patron and Friend, as his last Legacies do sufficiently testifie; he was resolved to be as good a Christian too, and thereupon requested the taking the Sacrament: To which, being admitted (with what Integrity you'll find by the Sequel) with a grave Countenance to the very last, he was very ready to receive the Sacrament; and upon so serious an Undertaking, was pleased to put a Case of Conscience to the Minister, viz. having made a Vow never to pay the 500l. he stood engaged for, Whether he was obliged to keep his Vow, or no? To which being answered in the Negative, That he was obliged to pay his Debts, notwithstanding his rash Vow. He made answer, That truly now drawing near Heaven, he considered the point, and acquiesced with his Ghostly Monitor; and thereupon incerted the 500l. into the Will.

This piece of extraordinary Justice being perform'd with a very composed and setled mind he left this troublesom World on Sunday the Third Instant, seeming very well contented to part with his great Riches and Lands, for the more valuable consideration of future Happiness.

Now I must do the Family this Right, That notwithstanding the great Sums they gain'd by so ample a Testament, and such bounteous Legacies, however their sorrow for the lamented Departure of so worthy a Gentleman was very hearty and cordial: Nay, some are of Opinion, that instead of diminishing (as Sorrow generally wears off) theirs, on the contrary is daily encreasing.

But perhaps nothing was so unkind as excluding the poor Prentice from visiting the sick Gentleman. For, alas, the poor Boy has been heard most dolefully to bewail the unkindness of his Master; for undoubtedly the worthy Gentleman would have left him enough to have set him up, had he been amongst the Throng of Visitants, who all tasted so highly of his extravagant Liberality.

Now to assure you that the Kindness of his Executors continued beyond his Death, they thought themselves so far indebted to his Memory, that not only the Embalmer was sent for, but likewise a Coffin, price 12l. was made, and all little enough for so generous a Patron, so much as Mourning, and Rings, and what else bespoken, &c.

But before these Honourable Exequies could be performed, an unhappy Letter from the True Humphrey Wickham Esq; a Person of a great Estate and Reputation, detected the whole Fraud and Delusion, and the Remains of our Quandam Person of Honour was committed to Earth, in a Coffin, price 4s. with Shrowd and other Funeral Materials accordingly.

You are hereby informed, That this grand Impostor, whose true Name was VVilliam Morrell alias Bowyer, formerly a Surgeon in Banbury, had been two Months a Guest at Mr. Wickham's, and thereby so acquainted with his Family as enabled him to personate the Cheat so artificially, and so we leave him.

His WILL.

In the Name of God, Amen, I Humphrey Wickham of Swaclift, in the County of Oxon Esq; being sick and weak in Body, but of sound Mind and Memory, do make this my last WILL and TESTAMENT, revoking all Wills by me formerly made: And as touching such Worldly Estate as God hath been pleased to bless me withal, I do hereby give and bequeath the same in manner following:

Imprimis, I do give, devise, and bequeath to my Kinsman William Wickham, Son of George Wickham, of Gazington in the County of Oxon, all that my Mansion-House of Swaclift aforesaid; and all the Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments thereunto belonging, to hold unto him the said William Wickham, and his Heirs forever.

Item, I give and bequeath unto John Cullin, Son of Thomas Cullin, of the Parish of St. Clement Danes, in the County of Middlesex, Baker, all that my impropriated Parsonage of Sowgrate, in the County of Northampton, with the Rents, Issues, and Profits thereof.

Item, I give unto Anne Cullin, Sister of the said John Cullin, the Summ of Two hundred and fifty Pounds.

Item, I give unto Thomas Cullin, Son of the said Thomas Cullin, the Summ of Three hundred Pounds.

Item, I give unto Dorothy Halford, Daughter of Thomas Halford of Halford, in the County of Warwick, the Summ of Two hundred Pounds.

Item, I give unto Richard Davis, Son of William Davis of the said Parish of St. Clement Danes, the Summ of Four hundred Pounds.

Item, I give unto William Davis, Son of the said William Davis, the Summ of Two hundred Pounds.

Item, I give unto Anne Fowkes, for her Care and Diligence in Looking after me in my Sickness, the Summ of One hundred Pounds.

Item, I give unto Robert Croker, Son of William Croker of Sanford, in the said County of Oxon (being my God-son) the Sum of Five Hundred Pounds.

Item, I give unto the said William Croker, the Summ of Five hundred Pounds.

Item, I give unto Robert Penniston, Son of Sir Thomas Penniston, and younger Brother to Sir Farmalis Penniston of Cornhill, in the said County of Oxon the Summ of Three hundred Pounds.

Item, I give unto Mrs. Jane Penniston, Sister of the said Mr. Robert Penniston, the Summ of Two hundred Pounds.

Item, I do hereby give, devise, and bequeath, all my Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments whatsoever, called by the Name of Apple-tree Ducy, in Cropridee, in the County of Northampton, unto John Brooking of Rashly, in the County of Devon, Esquire, and the said William Davis Senior, and Thomas Cullin Senior, and the Survivor of them, and their Heirs, and the Survivor of them upon Trust and Confidence: Nevertheless, that they the said John Brooking, VVilliam Davis, and Thomas Cullin, shall sell and dispose of the same; and out of the Money thereby raised, pay, or cause to be paid, the respective Legacies herein before bequeathed unto the said Anne Cullin, Thomas Cullin Jun. Dorothy Halford, Richard Davis, VVilliam Davis Jun. and Anne Fowkes. And whereas I have herein before bequeathed unto my Kinsman VVilliam VVickham, and his Heirs, all my Mansion-House at Swaclift aforesaid, with the Lands, Tenements, and Hereditaments thereunto belonging; my true Will and Meaning is, That the same Devise is upon this special Trust and Confidence, That the said VVilliam VVickham shall pay, or cause to be paid, the several Legacies herein before bequeathed unto the said Rob. Croker, and VVil. Croker, Robert Penniston, and Jane Penniston; and also pay and discharge one Bond for the Principal Sum of five hundred Pounds, with Interest, which I became bound for and with Thomas VValker, to one Thomas Irons, any thing herein before-contained to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding; and also that he the said VVilliam VVickham, shall out of his Legacy, and Lands, and Premises aforesaid, to him devised, pay, or cause to be paid unto my Executors hereafter named, the Sum of Five hundred Pounds, to be by them bestowed, distributed, or employed for the use and benefit of the Poor of the Parish of Swaclift aforesaid, in such manner as they, or the major part of them shall think fit and convenient.

Item, I give and bequeath unto the said John Brooking out of the Moneys that shall be raised of the Sale of the said Lands and Tenements, called Apple-tree Ducy aforesaid, the Summ of Five hundred Pounds: And all the rest and residue of the Moneys that shall be thereby raised. I do hereby give and bequeath unto the said VVilliam Davies Senior, and Thomas Cullin Senior, to be equally divided between them and the Survivor of them.

Item, I give and bequeath unto Alice Cullin, Wife of the said Thomas Cullin Senior, the Sum of Six hundred Pounds to her own proper Use and Disposal.

Item, I give and bequeath in like manner the Summ of Six hundred Pounds unto Jane Davis, the Wife of the said VVilliam Davis.

Item, I give unto the said Robert Croker and VVill. Croker, the Summ of Ten Pounds a-piece to buy them Mourning: and also to each of them a Ring of Twelve Shillings.

Item, I give unto Jane Croker and Mary Croker; and also to the said Robert Peniston, and Jane Peniston, and all other my Legatees herein before-mentioned, and to every of them the Summ of Ten Pounds a-piece to buy them Mourning, and a Ring of Twelve Shillings.

Item, Whereas I have the Sum of Seven hundred Pounds, lying at Interest in the hands of Mr. Ambrose Holbitch, in the name of Oliver Charles, my Servant, I do hereby give and bequeath the same to and amongst my Four Servants, Oliver Charles, John Harbert, Sarah VVinn, and Margery Smith, and the Survivor of them, to be equally divided amongst them, share and share alike.

Item, I give and bequeath my Three Geldings, and all my Accoutrements belonging to them unto the said John Brookeing, VVilliam Davis Senior, and Thomas Cullin, Sen. viz. my Bright Bay Gelding to the said Thomas Cullin, and my Black Gelding to the said VVilliam Davis, and my Dapple-grey Gelding to the said John Brooking. All the Arrears of Rent in my Tenants Hands at the time of my Decease I do hereby freely acquit and discharge. And all the rest and Residue of my Personal Estate, not herein before devised, after my Debts, Legacies and Funeral Expences, paid and discharged, I do hereby give and bequeath unto my said Kinsman VVilliam VVickham.

And, lastly, I do hereby nominate, constitute and appoint the said VVilliam VVickham, John Brooking, VVilliam Davis Senior, and Thomas Cullin Senior, Executors of this my Will; hereby revoking and making void all other, and former Will or Wills by me made.

In Witness whereof I the said Humphrey VVickham have to this my last Will, containing one side of a Sheet of Paper, and almost half the back thereof, set my Hand and Seal this Twenty seventh day of December, Anno Dom. 1691.

Humphrey Wickham.

Signed, Sealed, Published and Declared in the presence of us, with the Words (VVill. VVickham) being first interlined, Rob. Smith, Jo. Chapman, Rich. Chapman, Mart. Pinckard.

I, the above named Humphrey VVickham, having omitted out of my Will above-mentioned, the Disposition of my Estate in Huntingtonshire, do hereby make this Addition to, and part of my said Will, in manner following. I give and bequeath all my Lands, Tenements and Hereditaments, called Pryor's Farm, and all other my Estate in Hollywell and Needingworth, or else where, in the said County of Huntington, unto the above named John Brooking, VVilliam Davis Senior, and Tho. Cullin Sen. and the Survivor of them, and their Heirs, and the Heirs of the Survivor of them, under this special Trust and Confidence, that the said Jo. Brooking, VVilliam Davis, and Thomas Cullen, shall sell and dispose of the same; and out of the Moneys thereby raised, pay, or Cause to be paid the respective Legacies hereafter named, viz. I give and bequeath to Humphrey Longford the sum of six hundred pounds, and to his Sister Mary Longford the like sum of six hundred pounds.

Item, I give and bequeath unto the said Tho. Cullin Sen. the further Summ of 800l.. and all the Remainder of the Moneys thereby raised, I give and bequeath unto the said Will. Davis Sen. and Jane his Wife, and the Survivor of them.

Item, Whereas I have by Will above-said, given unto John Cullin, Son of the said Thomas Cullin, the impropriated Parsonage of Sowgrave; my true meaning is, That I do give and devise the same to the said John Cullin, and his Heirs for ever. In Witness whereof, I the said Humphrey Wickham have to this Condicil Addition, or further part of my said Will, set my Hand and Seal, this Twenty eighth Day of December, Anno Dom. 1691.

Humphrey Wickham.

Signed, Sealed, Published, and Declared, in the Presence of us, Robert Smith, John Chapman, Rich. Chapman, Martin Pinkard,

Probatum fuit hum. Testium. cum Codicillo eidem annex. coram Venerab. Vir. Henrico Fauconberge Legum Doctore, Surr. Venerab. & Egregii Viri Dom. Richardi Raines Militis, Legem etiam Doctoris Curiæ Prærogativæ Cantuar. Magist. &c. Quarto die Mensis Januarii, Anno Dom. (Stilo Angliæ, 1691.) Juramentis Willielmi Davis, & Thomæ Cullen, duorum ex Executor. &c. Quibus, &c. de bene & fidel. Administrand. eadem ad Sancta Dei Evangelia Jurat. Reservata potestate similem Com. faciendi Willielmo Wickham & Johanni Brooking, alteris Executor. eum venerint seu eorum a'ter venerit eand. petitur.

FINIS

PUBLICATIONS OF THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY

First Year (1946-1947)

Numbers 1-6 out of print.

Second Year (1947-1948)

7. John Gay's The Present State of Wit (1711); and a section on Wit from The English Theophrastus (1702).

8. Rapin's De Carmine Pastorali, translated by Creech (1684).

9. T. Hanmer's (?) Some Remarks on the Tragedy of Hamlet (1736).

10. Corbyn Morris' Essay towards Fixing the True Standards of Wit, etc. (1744).

11. Thomas Purney's Discourse on the Pastoral (1717).

12. Essays on the Stage, selected, with an Introduction by Joseph Wood Krutch.

Third Year (1948-1949)

13. Sir John Falstaff (pseud.), The Theatre (1720).

14. Edward Moore's The Gamester (1753).

15. John Oldmixon's Reflections on Dr. Swift's Letter to Harley(1712); and Arthur Mainwaring's The British Academy (1712).

16. Nevil Payne's Fatal Jealousy (1673).

17. Nicholas Rowe's Some Account of the Life of Mr. William Shakespeare (1709).

18. "Of Genius," in The Occasional Paper, Vol. III, No. 10 (1719); and Aaron Hill's Preface to The Creation (1720).

Fourth Year (1949-1950)

19. Susanna Centlivre's The Busie Body (1709).

20. Lewis Theobold's Preface to The Works of Shakespeare (1734).

21. Critical Remarks on Sir Charles Grandison, Clarissa, and Pamela (1754).

22. Samuel Johnson's The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749) and Two Rambler papers (1750).

23. John Dryden's His Majesties Declaration Defended (1681).

24. Pierre Nicole's An Essay on True and Apparent Beauty in Which from Settled Principles is Rendered the Grounds for Choosing and Rejecting Epigrams, translated by J. V. Cunningham.

Fifth Year (1950-1951)

25. Thomas Baker's The Fine Lady's Airs (1709).

26. Charles Macklin's The Man of the World (1792).

27. Out of print.

28. John Evelyn's An Apologie for the Royal Party (1659); and A Panegyric to Charles the Second (1661).

29. Daniel Defoe's A Vindication of the Press (1718).

30. Essays on Taste from John Gilbert Cooper's Letters Concerning Taste, 3rd edition (1757), & John Armstrong's Miscellanies(1770).

Sixth Year (1951-1952)

31. Thomas Gray's An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church Yard (1751); and The Eton College Manuscript.

32. Prefaces to Fiction; Georges de Scudéry's Preface to Ibrahim (1674), etc.

33. Henry Gally's A Critical Essay on Characteristic-Writings (1725).

34. Thomas Tyers' A Biographical Sketch of Dr. Samuel Johnson (1785).

35. James Boswell, Andrew Erskine, and George Dempster. Critical Strictures on the New Tragedy of Elvira, Written by Mr. David Malloch (1763).

36. Joseph Harris's The City Bride (1696).

Seventh Year (1952-1953)

37. Thomas Morrison's A Pindarick Ode on Painting (1767).

38. John Phillips' A Satyr Against Hypocrites (1655).

39. Thomas Warton's A History of English Poetry.

40. Edward Bysshe's The Art of English Poetry (1708).

41. Bernard Mandeville's "A Letter to Dion" (1732).

42. Prefaces to Four Seventeenth-Century Romances.

Eighth Year (1953-1954)

43. John Baillie's An Essay on the Sublime (1747).

44. Mathias Casimire Sarbiewski's The Odes of Casimire, Translated by G. Hils (1646).

45. John Robert Scott's Dissertation on the Progress of the Fine Arts.

46. Selections from Seventeenth Century Songbooks.

47. Contemporaries of the Tatler and Spectator.

48. Samuel Richardson's Introduction to Pamela.

Ninth Year (1954-1955)

49. Two St. Cecilia's Day Sermons (1696-1697).

50. Hervey Aston's A Sermon Before the Sons of the Clergy (1745).

51. Lewis Maidwell's An Essay upon the Necessity and Excellency of Education (1705).

52. Pappity Stampoy's A Collection of Scotch Proverbs (1663).

53. Urian Oakes' The Soveraign Efficacy of Divine Providence (1682).

54. Mary Davys' Familiar Letters Betwixt a Gentleman and a Lady (1725).

Tenth Year (1955-1956)

55. Samuel Say's An Essay on the Harmony, Variety, and Power of Numbers (1745).

56. Theologia Ruris, sive Schola & Scala Naturæ (1686).

57. Henry Fielding's Shamela (1741).

58. Eighteenth Century Book Illustrations.

59. Samuel Johnson's Notes to Shakespeare. Vol. I, Comedies, Part I.

60. Samuel Johnson's Notes to Shakespeare. Vol. I, Comedies, Part II.

Eleventh Year (1956-1957)

61. Elizabeth Elstob's An Apology for the Study of Northern Antiquities (1715).

62. Two Funeral Sermons (1635).

63. Parodies of Ballad Criticism (1711-1787).

64. Prefaces to Three Eighteenth Century Novels (1708, 1751, 1797).

65. Samuel Johnson's Notes to Shakespeare. Vol. II, Histories, Part I.

66. Samuel Johnson's Notes to Shakespeare. Vol. II, Histories, Part II.

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