Devonshire Characters and Strange EventsBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
Devonshire Characters and Strange Events
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Devon (England) -- Biography; Devon (England) -- History
“If the Booty he got before under this character was considerable, it
was much more so now; for being able to give a very exact Account of
Newfoundland, he applied with great Confidence to Masters of Vessels,
and Gentlemen well acquainted with those Parts; so that those whom
before his Prudence would not permit him to apply to, now became his
greatest benefactors, as the perfect Account he gave of the Country
engaged them to give Credit to all he asserted, and made them very
liberal in his Favour.”
But his very worst act was committed shortly after this. He went in a
collier from Dartmouth to Newcastle, and there he fell in love with a
Miss Grey, daughter of a respectable surgeon-apothecary of the town. He
pretended to be mate of the collier, and the captain was not ashamed
to corroborate this statement. He gained the young lady’s affections,
and as the father naturally objected to such a match, he induced the
unfortunate girl to elope with him and come to Dartmouth, where only
did she find out that he was a professional mumper or beggar, and
that his only respectable trade was that of rat-catcher. But she had
taken an irrevocable step in running away with him, and she consented
to marry him, and the ceremony was performed at Bath, where for a few
weeks they lived in high style, till his money was gone, when he was
obliged again to return to his impositions and frauds. From Bath the
young couple went to Porchester, where they were kindly received by an
uncle of Bampfylde, and he most urgently strove to turn the scoundrel
from his mode of life, promising that if he would reform, he and the
family would obtain for him some situation in which he could earn his
livelihood in an honest manner, and live in a way befitting his birth.
But this did not suit Carew. He employed his time with his uncle, who
was a clergyman, in studying his demeanour, manner of speech, etc., and
leaving him supplied himself with cassock, bands, a black gown, and
started “mumping” as a Jacobite incumbent of Aberystwyth, who had been
ejected from the living for his political sentiments, and “this and his
thorough Knowledge of those Persons whom it was proper to apply to,
made this stratagem succeed even beyond his own expectations.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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