The Surprising Adventures of Bampfylde Moore Carew, King of the Beggars: Containing his Life, a Dictionary of the Cant Language, and many Entertaining Particulars of that Extraordinary ManUnknown
General
The Surprising Adventures of Bampfylde Moore Carew, King of the Beggars: Containing his Life, a Dictionary of the Cant Language, and many Entertaining Particulars of that Extraordinary Man
The commitment was directed to the under-sheriff in New Town, a saddler
by profession, who immediately waited on him to the prison; he found it
well peopled, and his ears were confused with almost as many dialects as
put a stop to the building of Babel. Mr. Carew saluted them, and
courteously inquired what countrymen they were: some were from Kilkenny,
some Limeric, some Dublin, others of Somerset, Dorset, Devon, and
Cornwall; so that he found he had choice enough of companions, and, as he
saw he had no remedy but patience, he endeavoured to amuse himself as
well as he could.
Looking through the bars one day, he espied a whipping-post and gallows,
at which he turned to his companions, and cried out, A fine sight truly
this is, my friends! which was a jest many of them could not relish, as
they had before tasted of the whipping; looking on the other side, he saw
a fine house, and demanding whose it was, they told him it was the
assembly-house. While he was thus amusing himself, reflecting on the
variety of his fate, fortune was preparing a more agreeable scene for
him. A person coming up to the window, asked where the runaway was, who
had been brought in that day, Mr. Carew composedly told him he was the
man; they then entered into discourse, inquiring of each other of what
country they were, and soon found they were pretty near neighbours, the
person who addressed him being one out of Dorsetshire. While they were
talking, our hero seeing the tops of some vessels riding in the river,
inquired what place they belonged to. The man replied, To the west of
England, to one Mr. Buck of Biddeford, to whom most of the town belonged.
Our hero’s heart leaped for joy at this good news, and he hastily asked
if the captains Kenny, Hervey, Hopkins, and George Bird were there; the
man replying in the affirmative, still heightened his satisfaction. Will
you have the goodness to be an unfortunate prisoner’s friend, said he to
the person he was talking with, and present my humble duty to any of
them, but particularly to Captain Hervey, and inform them I am here. The
man very civilly replied he would do it; and asked what he should tell
them was his name? Carew, replied our hero. Away ran the messenger with
great haste, but before he got half way, forgetting the name ran back
again to ask it. Tell them my name is Carew, the rat-catcher; away went
the man again, repeating all the way, Carew, the rat-catcher, lest he
should forget it a second time; and he now executed his message so well,
that very soon after came the captains to the gaol door.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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