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of the Old Bailey, and I became a swindler by profession. Like the
eagle, however, I was a bird of prey that soared into the highest
regions, and rarely stooped to strike the meaner tribes of my species. I
had not lost, with the trappings of my birth, the manners and address of
the sphere in which I had moved; and these were now my stock in trade
for carrying on my new vocation.
Among the children of misfortune with whom I associated in prison, was
Charles Fitzroy; a bankrupt in every thing but exhaustless invention,
and unconquerable perseverance. Give him the free use of his limbs, and
with matchless dexterity he would make the contributions of the morning
furnish out the riotous expenses of the evening. It was his boast, that
he would breakfast with an empty pocket, and dine with a purse that
should defray the carouse of a dozen friends. And I have known him
fulfil his boast, with a heart as light, too, as became a man who thus
made the credulous fools of the world his bankers.
I was needy, desperate, and an outcast; and I linked my destiny with
Fitzroy's. He had my confidence; such confidence as confederates in
knavery can bestow. When he obtained his liberty, which he did shortly
after my own was accomplished, he introduced me to his companions; men
who, like himself, lived by plundering the unwary, and who looked up to
him as their _Magnus Apollo_.
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