AT your reiterated solicita­tions I have attempted to procure you a faith­ful narrative of the life and transactions of that mercenary incendiary who for some time past has been, by foreign assistance, forcing himself into notice, on the theatre of American poli­tics. After a most vigilant search, I have procured, besides other authentic documents, a rough sketch of his life, drawn up by himself in a paroxysm of despair, when the gallows stared him in the face; but, as he es­caped punishment at that time, he has been as careful to prevent its publication as " existing circumstances" would permit. The gentleman [Page 6]from whom I have procured that manuscript, got possession of it at a time when its wretched author had not wherewithal to procure him a hiding-place from the storm. He wished my friend to digest it for publication, expecting by that means to procure a little money, but before it could be got ready for press, its owner requested its suppression; nor would I at this time have procured the loan of it, had not the brazen-faced Porcupine declared in my friend's company, when he mentioned it in a jocular manner, that he never gave it him, and that not a word contained therein was true, with respect to him: The falsity of this declaration, I am convinced, will appear as obvious to you as it did to my friend, when you are informed, that it was written and dated in Ipswich jail; at a period when he could have no inducement for making his crimes appear more hideous than they really were.

By the assistance of this, and other informa­tion, I have traced him through the compli­cated vicissitudes of a life abandoned to every species of wickedness, and recorded the prin­cipal actions of his life as accurately, as con­sidering my sources of information, and dis­tance from the various scences, could possibly be done, these considered, I will have no oc­casion to apologise for the errors which may unavoidably have place in any part of this letters.

HE was born (whether above or below ground I know not) on the estate of that ce­lebrated English peer ^* whom Peter Pindar lately recommended to the Royal Academy of London, as a suitable representation of the Devil, if they wished to procure a striking like­ness of the " Sovereign Lord and King" of the internal regions. This effigy of his Satanic Majesty became the Porcupine's master; for by the law which at that period existed in England, the children of miners became the property of the person to whom their parents belonged. From this state of bondage, the decease of the father before the 14th year of the child's existence could only release it, for as the women on the death of their husband's were declared free, immemorial custom had considered the offspring as the mother's pro­perty, if it had not attained the above-men­tioned age. These children were generally received into the parish workhouse, but star­vation stared the mother in the face, and she had no alternative but that of returning to her subterraneous employment.

Unfortunately for the Porcupine, ere he had attained the eighth year of his age his reputed father departed this life, in consequence of a bruise he received by the falling of a huge rock of coal; and in the year 1774 the Por­cupine emerged from the coal-pit, which, for succeffive generations, had contained the cradle [Page 8]and the death-bed of his ancestors—Unfortu­nately for the Porcupine, I say, was this pre­mature death of his father, for had it not hap­pened, he might have passed from the womb to "that bourne from whence no traveller re­turns," in oblivion; but for this fatal accident, the "political pilots of America" would have been under the necessity of steering their vessel without the aid and guidance of a " bloody buoy," and an English whipping-post would not have been graced with the carcase of the Porcupine; but for it, the Executive of the United States would never have been puffed with the flatter­ing panegyrics of this dishonest hypocritical wretch, nor would an English judge have been under the necessity of passing on him a sentence of death; but for it, the light-fingered tribe would have lacked a skilful associate, and his Britannic Majesty an able agent.

The Porcupine, on his arrival above ground, was admitted into the parish work-house, thro' the influence of a very cha itable lady in the neighbourhood; and his mother having ac­cepted the hand of another pit-mate, returned to her former slavery. The Porcupine had not been long in the work-house, until that covetuous disposition, which has accompanied him in an eminent degree through life, began to appear, but for a while it was confined to the toys, &c. of his companions. During the first two years he was in the work-house, he made a very rapid progress in his education; [Page 9]but as he advanced in years, he advanced likewise in roguery, he had been often con­victed of petty thefts, yet his insinuating ad­dress, and progress in learning counterbalanced his bad actions with his too-credulous teachers, and he often escaped the punishment his crimes deserved.

He had been nearly four years in the work­house when he commenced his depradations on its proyerty, and on that of its officers: Our hero has, throughout his whole life, been possessed of an unconquerable propensity for stealing, and drinking strong liquors—Several small articles had from time to time disappeared from the work-house, and the Porcupine had frequently been observed to be in liquor. Once, in particular, having found means to convey a brass goblet from the governor's kitchen, by the assistance of one of those monsters who are to be found in all the towns in England, whose whose business is to purchase stolen goods, and to encourage youth to steal, he converted the goblet into cash, and part of that into gin, with which he got drunk; and returning to the work-house, yet intoxicated, he went directly to the governor's kitchen, and told the cook that he observed one of the boys on the road to town with a goblet under his arm; inquiring if it be­longed to the work-house. The goblet being, in consequence, immediately missed, and in­formation thereof given to the governor, he ordered the boy charged with the crime to be [Page 10]brought before him, when low! it appeared that he had not been without the gates of the gates of the work-house that day: The Por­cupine was consequently caught in the snare he had laid for another—the charge of theft reverted to him, who was brought before the governor, but the gin having commenced its operation, he was speechless, in a state of ine­briation, disgraceful at any age, but more so at his. Next day, the treble crimes of theft, drunkenness, and lying, procured him a most severe chastisement: his credit in the work­house was at an end; and from that day he formed the design of leaving it the first favou­rable opportunity.

Some time in the spring of 1780, the year in which he commenced pocket-picking, he found means to extract from a countryman's pocket, who had come to town to attend a fair, a few shillings. Conscious of detection if he did not leave the work-house immediately, and already sufficiently tired of its confinement, he determined to depart as soon after supper as he conveniently could, for, by so doing, he would have a night's travelling before his go­ing off would be known.

His memory was at this time pretty reten­tive—his late severe flogging he had not for­got—he had likewise perfect remembrance of another recent disgrace, which, though not so corporeally painful, got him the hootings, his­sings and contemptuous jeerings of all his com­panions; [Page 11]these, had he not been possessed of a heart so naturally prone to thieving, might have superinduced a reprisal, before his final leave on the body of the object of his ven­geance; but the property, rather than the body, of the person who, when fulfilling his duty, he supposed had injured him, was his object; and as he had neither clothes nor money to over­burden him when travelling, a little addition to the production of his first public essay, he was determined to attempt procuring; with this view, he employed the evening in schem­ing, and while the governor, teachers, &c. were suping, he put his schemes in execution; the governess's chamber was the first object of his examination—in it he could discover no­thing worth carrying off, save an antique re­peating watch, which was immediately secured —the governor's was next in course, and after strict examination, a solitary Queen Ann's half­guinea, which its owner had long kept as an object of curiosity, was the only thing he could find worthy of capture:—The rooms of the teachers came next under review, but none of the precious metals were to be found in them; however, he determined they should not fare better for that: In one room he thought a change from the work-house dress would pre­vent his being stopped when travelling, and in the other, a determination to destroy, as he could not carry off, entered his malicious mind. The best suit belonging to the junior teacher [Page 12]he cut in pieces with a pen-knife he found in the room, and from that of the senior he car­ried off a black cloth coat, a pair of black sattin breeches, and a three-cocked hat, with these under his arm he sallied forth from the work-house, and continued walking, nor dared to look behind him, till he was at least a mile distant from his late home. Here he stoped for the purpose of shifting—you may easily conceive what a ridiculous figure a youth of his years would make in such a dress.

The teacher's posteriors were equal in size to those of any man in this city, and his coat would have been too large for Mr. Sedgwick; not with standing which, this offspring of a coal-pit union determined to change his dress, and having thrown into an adjoining meadow-drain the principal part of his work-house uniform, he equipped himself in the clothes he had stole, and, in that ridiculous dress, he set off for Bir­mingham. On the road he committed several petty acts of theft; the people supposing he had escaped from some mad-house, were not very watchful of their property when he en­tered their dwellings.

He arrived at that town about eight o'clock in the morning, in the same ludicrous dress, which arrested the attention of every eye: A huge old-fashioned very fine cocked hat, and a pair of wooden-soaled work-house manufac­tured, shoes—a superfine very large black cloth coat, and a coarse grey cloth work-house jacket [Page 13]—a pair of very large and fine sattin breeches, and a pair of the coarsest grey work-house stockings—a very rich antique watch-chain dangling on his thigh, and a great notty oak-branch in his hand, were contrasts so truly striking, as to have a very visible effect on the visible faculties of every beholder.

A member of a gang of thieves, who had for some time infested Birmingham, accosted our young hero, and very soon discovered him to be of " the sort;" he therefore carried him before their scheming committee, by the una­nimous voice of whom, he was admitted a member of their association, and from whom he received a complete change of dress. What became of the repeater he never knew, and its loss he has often lamented. Under the tuition of these light-fingered gentlemen, however, he soon became a proficient in the art of pick­ing locks and every species of thieving. He continued in this place near twelve months; during which he assisted them in robbing the stores, &c. of several capital merchants, and always shared equal in the booty. Early in the year 1781, an end was put to this associa­tion, by some of the gang being seized in the act of breaking open the cellar of an inn, and the rogues not having confidence in one ano­ther, for personal safety a retreat was unavoid­able. He, therefore, with a companion of the trade, left Birmingham the morning after said detection, determining to carry on on their own [Page 14]account, and took the road to Oxford. Near Coventry, they fell in with a chaise and four, containing a young lady and her inamorato, on their way to Gretna Green, and having stopped the carriage, the loving couple, alarmed at the appearance of a rusty pistol without a lock, delivered to the robbers, all their cash, con­sisting of nearly 200 guineas; how the lovers were to proceed, or whether the Caledonian horse-shoeing divine would unite them in the holy bands of matrimony without the appear­ance of a purse, were objects which never struck the minds of either of these hard-heart­ed followers of Phorbas. They slept that night, and breakfasted next morning, in the house of of a poor, but honest and industrious, country­man, from which, not with standing, they took care not to depart without a prize. The la­borious man being up at the dawn of day to his work, when the unsuspecting woman was empleyed preparing breakfast, a sit opportu­nity offered, and the monsters, callous to every feeling of humanity, picked the locks of an ancient bureau, and extracted therefrom one guinea and three half-crown pieces, which were carefully wrapped up in rags, and depo­sited in a corner of one the drawers, undoubt­edly a part of the hard earnings which the in­dustrious couple had collected for the purposes of paying their rent and the teacher's quar­terly bills for the education of their children: they departed unsuspected, after paying the [Page 15]good woman he moderate charge, and receiv­ing her hearty thanks; this day they dined at a tavern, from which they carried off a silver pot. They arrived at Oxford that same night, in which city they resided some time: during which they broke open, a variety of haber­dashers, mens mercers, hardware and jewellery shops, &c. the products of which they easily disposed of, as our hero takes notice, in the manuscript already mentioned, that "he never was in any town two days without discover­ing some place for the disposal of stolen goods."

The accomplices in villainy had not been in partnership six months, when, in consequence of a difference respecting the division of some booty, they determined to separate, but not before each had solemnly swore never to be­come volunteer evidence against the other. It was the Poroupine's lot to leave Oxford; he therefore set off with the intention of going to London, but having stopped a few days at Ban­bury fair, he picked several pockets, stole two or three pieces of cloth, several pairs of gloves, stockings, &c. which occasioned his return to Oxford to dispose of them. During his ab­sence, a reward of 50 guineas had been ad­vertised for the discovery of the persons guilty of a late daring robbery, and if one of the de­linquents made the discovery, he was to re­ceive pardon as well as the reward. It was the last robbery that the Porcupine and his companion had been jointly guilty of, and the [Page 16]promise of pardon and reward induced him to break his solemn engagement by making dis­covery of his companion in iniquity. As the the assizes were sitting the trial speedily com­menced, but, unfortunately for the Porcupine, he could not restrain his hands even in the court; when retiring from giving his evidence, he was caught in the act of picking a gentle­man's pocket—he was accordingly committed to jail; his trial came on before the assize rose, and he and his companion were found guilty; the latter, on account of the magnitude of his crime, death—and the former, on account of his youth, got off with a sentence of imprison­ment "for six months, and receiving on the first Friday of the first, third, and fifth months, 100 lashes on his naked back, by the hands of the common hangman." This punishment had no other effect on the Porcupine than that of hardening him in iniquity. The period of his confinement had no sooner expired, than he set off again for London; when he arrived there, he had in possession, in addition to what he carried from Oxford, about 20 yards printed calicoe, I piece book muslin, 4 large shawls, a quantity of ribbons, gloves, stockings, &c. a silver watch, two silver table-spoons, one sil­ver porter-mug, besides some cash, all of which he picked up at the different houses he halted at on the road. The goods he very soon disposed of, and he continued, as usual, drunk and honest till his purse was reduced to [Page 17]its original emptiness: He then recommenced his depradations on his neighbour's property, and, being well known to all thieves in Lon­don and its vicinity, in the course of a few months he assisted in the commission of many capital and daring robberies. Shortly after his arrival in that city, he became, and con­tinued during his stay, the protector of one of the fair dames of St. Giles's, who supplied him very liberally with drink and money; but he and a companion being on a foot-pad expe­dition in the neighbourhood of London, one evening, they stoped a carriage, and demanded the money of a gentleman who was in it, which he having refused, the companion of the Por­cupine fired in at one door, which missing the gentleman, wounded our hero at the other, who was immediately apprehended and conducted to prison. Next court he was tried, and re­ceived sentence to be slogged at the cart's tail, and imprisoned three months in Tothilfields Bridewell. On his liberation he set off for Canterbury, on the road to which picked up several small articles of value, and by his cun­ning address, prevailed on the daughter of a farmer, at whose house he tarried one night, to sleep with him, and in the morning carried off her father's watch and two guineas, which had been carelessly left in the parlour over night. [In the manuscript mentioned at the beginning of this letter, he says, he had a cus­tom of travelling cross-roads.]

Having arrived at Canterbury, he com­menced his old trade, and was pretty succes­ful, but a search being set on foot, his narrow escape from the officers of justice, induced him to enter in the service of " The Defender of the Faith," by inlisting in one of his regi­ments of infantry, which was shortly after commanded to prepare for a voyage to Ame­rica; before the time fixed for their departure, however, the negociations for peace com­menced, the order for embarkation was coun­termanded, and the regiment ordered to Glou­cestor, where he continued some time; when being ordered to Leicestor on a recruiting party he began again to steal. The day of their arrival, he and other two of the party took a trunk from behind a carriage, in the vicinity of that town, which contained several articles of great value. In this place they resided se­veral months, during which he married a daughter of the tavern-keeper on whom he was billetted.

The party being ordered to join the regi­ment, on their return through Birmingham, he selt in with some of his old acquaintances, in whose company the night he was there was spent in the commission of several petty acts of theft. He had no sooner joined the regiment than, by saying she was a w—e who followed him, he prevailed on the mistress of the house in which he was billeted, to turn his wife out of doors, and on his fellow-soldiers to mob her out of town.

Shortly after this, having met one night in the streets with one of his officers in a state of intoxication, he, being as usual disguised, at­tacked and robbed him of his watch and mo­ney; he then left him, went for his uniform, and returning to the officer led him home. This unfortunate man's property again temp­ted the rapacious villain, and he took off a few shirts, &c. which he found in the room. These he was careful to dispose of that night, but he thought himself safe enough with the watch; he was however mistaken: the officer had per­fect recollection which soldier it was who saw him home, and upon missing his shirts, he or­dered a strict search to be made at the Porcu­pine's lodging—his shirts could not be found, but his watch unexpectedly was: The unfor­tunate wretch was immediately took under guard, and shortly after tried by a court-mar­tial, who sentenced him to receive, which he actually did, 500 lashes. He deserted imme­diately after his recovery, and went directly to Derby. The same night that he arrived there he stole from a shop a vast number of silk handkerchiefs, and next night, from another shop he took some bundles of stockings, some dozen pair of gloves, and other small articles; with these he travelled the country as a haw­ker, and stealing whenever an opportunity of­fered. In the course of this journey, he fell in with a fellow rogue, who advised him to commence coiner; the two accordingly set to [Page 20]work, and having finished a quantity of money they separated. The hero, of this letter was soon after this apprehended at Notingham for passing bad money, but the magistrates, not knowing he was a deserter, agreed not to pro­secute him if he would enlist in the army; this he consented to, and immediatly joined a re­giment then in town. He had not been long in this regiment until he was sent on a recruit­ing party into the county of Stafford; he had no sooner, however, been seperated from the main body than he determined to desert. He picked the lock of a trunk belonging to the owner of the first house he was billeted in, and exchanged his regimentals for a suit of his land­lord's; this done, he set off for Birmingham; when he arrived there, hearing of the fatal end of a number of his companions, and recol­lecting his own hair-breadth escapes, he re­solved to follow thieving no longer: With this view he sought out for a footman's place in some gentleman's family. He was of a good appearance, which by the assistance of a for­ged certificate of good character, got him in­to the service of a young gentleman who was going to make the tour of Europe, and they ecordingly set off for France. His not know­ing the French language was a great incon­venience to his master, who, therefore deter­mined to be at the expence of teaching him. They spent a long time in visiting the different towns in the north of France; but the wretch [Page 21]had no sooner acquired a knowledge of the language, which was highly pleasing to his master, than he determined to return to Eng­land. Since he had been in this gentleman's ser­vice, he conducted himself honestly, or at least if he did steal, it was not discovered, this ho­nest disposition, however, did not long conti­nue —his master having gone out with some companions on a party of pleasure for two days, he, being an unsuspicious man, left him the charge of his clothes and money, but he had no sooner gone, than having put the money and most valuable part of his master's wardrobe into one trunk, he took it with him and set off immediately for Calais, from thence to Dover, and from Dover to Bath, without stopping a a longer time than was necessary at any place on the road. His going to Bath, he says in the before-mentioned manuscript, was for the purpose of making his fortune, by marrying an heiress! Had this happened, he adds, he would really have lived honest and sober ever after; but fortunately for the ladies, he could not restrain his hands from stealing when there.

In consequence of a constant attendance at the card-room, a show of cash, a vast stock of impudence, and a smattering of French, he got intimate with several young gentlemen, one of whom having lost very considerably at play, was enabled by a present of the Porcu­pine's to continue, and in the end came off gainer; this generosity, as the young gentleman [Page 22]thought it, induced him to invite our hero to his father's house next night to tea, which was complied with, and the visits often repeated, in the conrse of which, he pretended to be deeply smitten with the charms of the young gentleman's sister, and made her several rich presents. His endeavours were successful—ugly as he is, he says he won her heart, and had he desisted from robbery for two weeks, he might have been in possession of an amiable and accomplished lady with a handsome for­tune; but being apprehended attempting to rob the stage between Bath and Cricklade, an end was put to the affair.

On examination, one of his accomplices served him just as he did his old companion at Oxford, by turning evidence for the crown, in consequence of which, three indictments for capital crimes were found against him. That for robbing the stage was first tried, and the evidence being clear, he was found guilty, and sentenced to be banged! but the disturbance between England and Spain, respecting Nootka Sound, breaking out at this time, he received a pardon on condition of joining one of the regiments ordered for Gibraltar; this he gladly consented to. He was kept confined till they were ready to embark, at which he and several others were marched under a strong guard for Portsmouth to be put aboard the transports which were lying at that place; but on the way, the Porcupine found means to es­cape [Page 23]from his guard, and went to London, from whence fear of discovery made him take immediate shipping for Dublin. He arrived in that city with an empty purse, but not hav­ing forgot his old trade, he the evening of his arrival, picked a gentleman's pocket of about seventy pounds in cash and bank-notes, and continued his depradations during his stay in that town. By his attendance at the places of public amusement, he got acquaint with several genteel families, in particular, he be­came intimate in the family of a respectable citizen, the eldest daughter of whom he paid the closeft attention, and soon prevailed upon her to consent to marriage, although her fa­ther had refused his consent. He took lodg­ings for her in Parliament street, and lived in the midst of plenty and pleasure for some time; notwithstanding which, he was no less assidu­ous in his attention to another young lady, in the out-skirts of the city, with whose parents he passed for the son of an English gentleman of fortune. He made her several very valu­able presents, and she received him in a favou­rable manner; but, when the young lady was on the point of yielding to his solicitations, her father having assented to the plan, which was to set off on the morning of their marriage, to his father's estate in England, an accident hap­pened, which, though it stoped the marriage, ruined the lady. In one of their walks in her father's garden, when drawing out his hand­kerchief [Page 24]he dropped a letter from one of his old companions, then under sentence of death in England. She took no notice of it, and he not observing it, it lay till she had an op­portunity of picking it up and perusing its contents, which made her acquaint with his true character.

At his next interview she laid the letter be­fore him—in vain did he invent a variety of excuses, such as finding it, &c. it was directed to him, she remarked, and she concluded by telling him, she was determined never to see him again—it would have been well for her, if she had continued firm in her determination. He now resolved to leave Ireland without the knowledge of his wife; before which, how­ever, he wished to see the young lady who had found the letter, and that he might accomplish this, he wrote her a letter, requesting her to meet him that evening at nine o'clock, near her father's gate (for he durst not go within it now), that he might explain what had happened. This she unfortunately complied with: he tied his horse to a tree, and they walked on a little way; he endeavoured to reconcile matters, but to no purpose. He then threw her down, and having stuffed his handkerchief in her mouth, ravished, and afterwards robbed her—left her almost senseless, and never saw her more.

He then made for his horse, which having mounted, he rode off directly for Donaghadee, at which place he embarked for Port-Patrick, [Page 25]from whence he set off for Carlisle, at which place he continued some time pursuing his old trade, and continuing his old licentious way of life. He seduced a servant maid, and after­wards induced her to live with him; notwith­standing which, he paid his addresses to a young lady in the neighbourhood, but finding her father prejudiced against his very appear­ance, and resolved to have no connection what­ever with him, he changed his design, and prevailed on the young lady to submit to his lustful desires. Her father, irritated at her disobedience, determined to put an effectual stop to any future interviews, and had her con­fined to her chamber. She however contrived to correspond with him, by the assistance of a female servant, and in her letters earnestly in­treated him to form some plan to convey her from her prison; but as he was not hasty in discovering one, she requested him, by letter, as her window-shutters were fastened, to come at midnight with a rope, mount to the top of the house, and let the rope down the chimney of her chamber, to which she promised to tie her clothes and money, after that was drawn up, and the rope again let down, she was to fasten herself. He repaired to the house at the hour appointed, which he very easily mounted by a peat-stack and a stable which were raised at one of [...] gables; having hoisted her money and clothes, he let the rope down again, not with intention of carrying off miss, for as he [Page 26]could not procure her estate, she had no more charms for him; however, not suspecting his intention, she fastened herself to the rope, and he having hoisted her about half-way up, he fastened it round the chimney-top, and went off with her clothes and money, leaving her in that sooty situation to reftect on her credu­lity. By this treacherous nocturnal expedi­tion, he acquired clothes, ornaments, a watch, &c. of nearly 150l. value, and in cash about 53 guineas, with which, to avoid another whipping-post exhibition, he took a moon­light leave of Carlisle; taking care, however, to carry likewise with him, from his own lod­gings, whatever could conveniently be done, without giving his Cumberland dear " in pos­session" cause to suspect his intention of elope­ment. At Brampton he dispofed of the goods. He continued in this place about 10 days, stealing whenever an opportunity occurred. Having entered the house of an aged widow woman one night, he demanded of her where her money lay, the woman told him she had none; however, he observed a watch, which when attempting to take, she laid hold of him by the arm, beseeching him not to take it—it had been her husband's before she knew him, she said, and she had kept it with the greatest care since his death—it was an agreeable com­panion in her hours of solitude, she added, and begged him to leave it. The callous monster irritated at her holding him, struck her with a [Page 27]short bludgeon which he always carried with him, and laid her lifeless at his seet. He then took the watch, and even riffled the unfortu­nate woman's pockets. Having locked the door, he made off for Litchfield, where falling in with a branch of the grand association, they carried on the business on an extensive plan for three months; churches, dwelling-houses, shops, cellars, &c. all were examined in turn by this band of russians. Their attack on the country-house of an extensive wholesale mer­chant is particularly worthy of notice: it was situated about three miles from Litchfield, and as nobody was left to take care of the house during winter, the rogues had an opportunity to empty it of almost every thing it contained; they took a cart with them, and having picked the locks, rumaged the house, and loaded their cart with the most valuable articles they could find, which they immediately took to town. Next day, while two of the gang were observing whether any of the family went to the house, the others were employed disposing of what they had stole. At night they paid the house another visit, and carried off another cart-load of the most valuable and portable articles which it then contained. For three weeks this ex­traordinary robbery remained undiscovered, and even then the perpetrators were not known. In the mean time, these villains had broke in­to two of the parish churches and a dissenting meeting house, from each of which the carried [Page 28]off the communion-cups, &c. stripped the pul­pits and covered pews, and took from one of the churches a large folio bible full of notes, which they burnt. The vest number of house and shop-breakings, and other daring robbe­ries lately committed in this town, occasioned a strict search to be set on foot, particularly amongst strangers, in consequence of which, two of the gang were apprehended, but our hero and the other escaped; he did not, how­ever, leave town, he was doomed to grace the Litchfield whipping-post. On the next mar­ket day, observing a countryman with a purse­ful of guineas, he determined to attempt pro­curing it, and following him till an opportu­nity occurred, he decoyed the simple fellow into an alley, then knocked him down, and robbed him of his all; but he had not left him long when the dreadful cries of the unfortunate man alarmed some people in the adjoining houses; a purfuit was accordingly made, and the Porcupine was seized and committed to jail; before he was apprehended, however, he had disposed of the purse some way. He was soon after tried, and found guilty—he was sen­tenced to three months imprisonment, and to receive 50 lashes under the gallows. It was a fortunate circumstance for him, that nothing transpired in the course of the trial, respecting the late robberies—had he been convicted of them he would undoubtedly have met with that sate he has so long deserved.

Afraid of a discovery which would put an effectual stop to his career, he petitioned to be allowed to enlist, which being granted, he en­tered with a company then in town, belonging to a regiment lying at Ipswich, to which he was immediately sent with some other recruits. At a fair they halted one day trying to procure more recruits, and our hero prevailed on his guard to take off his hand cuffs, which being done, he went to the fair, at which he picked a farmer's pocket of about 20 guineas, 6 of which he gave to his comrades. Having ar­rived at Ipswich, and being restored to the li­berty of a British soldier, he began again to steal. It would require a volume to contain a parti­cular account of the crimes he committed du­ring his stay in this town. Shortly after he arrived, he married a servant girl; this wretch, who has been guilty of so many enormities, made no seruple to break through the holy bands of matrimony whenever it suited his purposes. At this time he had wives in various parts of England, and one in Ireland; besides which, he had ruined a number of young wo­men, who never had the honour of being united to him by wedlock's sacred ties.

The Porcupine having with several of his fellow-foldiers, broke into the store of an ex­tensive wholesale merchant, and carried off a quantity of goods, cash, bills, &c. to a very considerable amount. The Porcupine knew this could not remain long undiscovered, and [Page 30]being more provident than his companions, he arranged matters so as to procure his share in cash, and with the addition of a watch, a few guineas, and a complete change of dress, be­longing to the owner of the house in which he was billeted, he made off directly for New­market, at which place the races were to com­mence the next week.

This daring robbery was the occasion of a very strict search, and a few of the Porcupine's companions were among those apprehended on suspicion. Some of the goods being found in their possession, and one of their accomplices having become king's evidence, a full disclo­sure was made. A reward was offered for ap­prehending our hero, by the military as well as civil authority, and he was arrested and dragged out of an assembly, at which he had promised himself the best crops he had yet reaped, and sent to prison. He was soon af­ter sent under a military guard to Ipswich, and lodged in jail. It was while lying there, under the horrors of a guilty conscience, and expec­ting the gallows as the reward of his crimes, that he wrote the manuscript I mentioned at the begianing of this letter.

He had not lain long there when he and his companions were tried by a court-martial, and he and another was sentenced to receive 1000 lashes each, to be drummed out of the regi­ment, and to be delivered over to the civil law. They stood 700 the first time, and as soon as [Page 31]they were able, they got the remainder, were drummed out of the regiment, and again com­mitted to jail; but the humane gentlemen who fustained the principal loss wishing to decline any further prosecution, they had their choice whether to stand trial, or to join the Queen's Rangers, Botany Bay, or the Royal Americans, Nova Scotia, in either of which latter cases, they were never to return to Great-Britain. The Porcupine made choice of Nova Scotia, and his companion of Botany Bay. After our hero arrived at the place of his choice, he ex­erted his talents to procure a little cash, with the intention of making off for the United States as soon as possible. In them he arrived in the year 1792, and has lived ever since without any visivle means of procuring an ho­nest livelihood! it is evident, that he must either have stole or been the secret agent of the king his master; I am inclined to believe the latter is his employment, for the wretch hardened in iniquity, who could go to the gallows with composure, shudders as the thought of many year's confinement.

I am the more inclined to believe it, as he has suddenly emerged from his late state of poverty and mise y, and has opened a shop in this city in one of his names; this, however, I have been informed from the best authority, is only a temporary scheme of the servants of our late " most excellent king," to try the pulse of the American people!

The variety of names he went under, I have not taken notice of, and one-half the innum­berable quantity of crimes he committed, could not be enumerated in the circumscribed bounds of a letter.

Having perused the preceding pages I know how you feel—I know how every honest man must seel at seeing this abandoned wretch, this outcast of society, daring to intersere in the politics of your country, and a [...]ming a dic­tatorship to your legislators. Let the national vengeance hurl the mercenary into oblivion— LIBERTY, VIRTUE, JUSTICE, REASON, and TRUTH, demand the sacrifice—If it is longer delayed, the error may not be discovered till too late.