I think proper for the benefit of the public, and to make all possible attonement for the injuries I have done to my fellow creatures, in England, Scotland, Ireland, North-America, and the West-Indies, in all which countries I have committed acts of hostility and depredation innumerable; I have no interest at all in this, only to warn the unwary, how they shall in general avoid the falling a prey to thieves and sharpers, and make those who tread in my wretched paths, be sensible and be warned in time to sly evil courses, as too truly will they find verified, that _the wages of sin is death_; besides that of undergoing in their wicked career, what is worse than death, the stings and daggers of a guilty mind: so that let their race be as long as it will, and their illicit practices attended with continual success, yet not one hour of true and solid happiness is the consequence. About sixteen years ago, to the best of my memory, my father who lived in good reputation in London, where I was born, put me to a boarding-school, and bestowed more money on my education, than on all the rest of my brothers and sisters, (I was the eldest of eighteen) for all which I never made any grateful return, which gives me great affliction, and the most pungent remorse, when added to my present load of trouble. To shew my early inclination to what has brought me to this deserved doom, I well remember, as I was standing by the side of Mr. Andrews, a waterman, in Charles-court in the Strand, my nurse being with me, I took a fancy to pull his watch out of his fob, at the same time laughing in his face; on detecting me, Mr. Andrews said, my dear, you begin betimes; the nurse, however, appeased him, so that no ill consequences followed: I mention this affair, as my friends rebuked me many times, by telling me of this deed, and my early inclination to what would, and indeed has proved my ruin.