"I have lived in many convents of friars of different orders, been present at their creation to various degrees, and have assisted at numberless entertainments upon those occasions. "I have been in almost every female nunnery in all Europe (_on account of my profession_), and could write many volumes on the adventures of these religious beauties. "I have been present at the making of nuns of almost every order, and assisted at the religious feasts given on those occasions. "I have met with a very great variety of singular religious people called Pilgrims. "I have been present at many extraordinary diversions designed for the amusement of the sovereign, viz. hunting of different sorts of wild beasts, as in Poland; bull-fighting, as in Spain. "I am well acquainted with all the various punishments for different crimes, as practised in every nation--been present at the putting of criminals to death by various ways, viz. striking off heads, breaking on the wheel, &c. "I am also well instructed in the different ways of giving the torture to extract confession--and am no stranger to other singular punishments, such as impaling, burying alive with head above ground, &c. "And lastly, I have assisted, have seen the manner of embalming dead bodies of great personages, and am well instructed in the manner practised in some nations for preserving them entire for ages, with little alteration of figure from what they were when first deprived of life.... "All must agree that no man ever had a greater variety of matter worthy to be conveyed to posterity. I shall, therefore, give my best care to, so to paint my thoughts, and give such a dress of the story of my life, that tho' I shall talk of the Great, the Least shall not find cause of offence." The occasion of this great man issuing so modest a proposal to the public is involved in some mystery. It would seem that he determined to publish his own version of his adventures, in consequence of being dissatisfied with his son's sketch of them. John Taylor, Junior, was then resident in Hatton Garden, living as an eye-doctor, and entered into an arrangement with a publisher, without his father's consent, to write the Chevalier's biography. Affixed to the indecent pamphlet, which was the result of this agreement, are the following epistolary statements:-- "MY SON,--If you should unguardedly have suffered your name at the head of a work which must make us all contemptible, this must be printed in it as the best apology for yourself and father:-- "TO THE PRINTER. "Oxford, Jan. 10, 1761.