Chapter 1

THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY

BERNARD MANDEVILLE,

_AN ENQUIRY_

INTO THE CAUSES

OF THE

FREQUENT EXECUTIONS

AT

_TYBURN_.

(1725)

_INTRODUCTION_

BY MALVIN R. ZIRKER, JR.

PUBLICATION NUMBER 105

WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES

1964

GENERAL EDITORS

Richard C. Boys, _University of Michigan_
Earl R. Miner, _University of California, Los Angeles_
Maximillian E. Novak, _University of California, Los Angeles_
Lawrence Clark Powell, _Wm. Andrews Clark Memorial Library_

ADVISORY EDITORS

John Butt, _University of Edinburgh_
James L. Clifford, _Columbia University_
Ralph Cohen, _University of California, Los Angeles_
Vinton A. Dearing, _University of California, Los Angeles_
Arthur Friedman, _University of Chicago_
Louis A. Landa, _Princeton University_
Samuel H. Monk, _University of Minnesota_
Everett T. Moore, _University of California, Los Angeles_
James Sutherland, _University College, London_
H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., _University of California, Los Angeles_

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY

Edna C. Davis, _Clark Memorial Library_

INTRODUCTION

The _Enquiry into the Causes of the Frequent Executions at Tyburn_ was
originally published as a series of letters to the _British Journal_.
The first letter appeared on February 27, 1725;[1] just twelve days
before, Jonathan Wild, self-proclaimed "Thief-Catcher General of _Great
Britain_ and _Ireland_," had been arrested and imprisoned in Newgate.
Thus the _Enquiry_ had a special timeliness and forms a part of the
contemporary interest in the increasingly notorious activities of Wild.
Wild's systematic exploitation of the London underworld and his callous
betrayal of his colleagues in criminality (he received L40 from the
government for each capital conviction he could claim) had created
public protest since at least 1718 when an act (which Mandeville cites
in his Preface) directed against receivers of stolen goods was passed,
most probably with the primary intention of curtailing Wild's
operations. Wild's notoriety was at its peak in 1724-5 after his
successful apprehension of Joseph Blake ("Blueskin") and Jack Sheppard,
the latter figure becoming a kind of national hero after his five
escapes from prison (he was recaptured by Wild each time).[2]

The timeliness of Mandeville's pamphlet extends, of course, beyond its
interest in Jonathan Wild, who after all receives comparatively little
of Mandeville's attention. The spectacle of Tyburn itself and the civil
and moral failures it represented was one which Londoners could scarcely
ignore and which for some provided a morbid fascination. Mandeville's
vivid description of the condemned criminal in Newgate, his journey to
Tyburn, and his "turning off," must have been strikingly forceful to his
contemporaries, who knew all too well the accuracy of his description.

"Tyburn Fair" was a holiday. Apprentices deserted their posts,
pickpockets, dram-dealers and other free-lance caterers, prostitutes,
grub-street elegiasts armed with dying speeches or commemorative verses,
went to theirs, to swell the enormous and unruly holiday mob, a mob
given a certain tone by the presence of the respectable or aristocratic
curious (Boswell says "I must confess that I myself am never absent from
a public execution") who came in their coaches or even rode along with
the condemned in his cart. The mob at Tyburn reached enormous
proportions. Thirty thousand people witnessed an execution in 1776;
eighty thousand an execution in Moorfields in 1767.[3] Richardson, in
_Familiar Letters on Important Occasions_ (Letter CLX) refers to the
"pressure of the mob, which is prodigious, nay, almost incredible."

When such popular madness was climaxed by the generally unrepentant
criminal's drunken bravado (Richardson's criminals "grew most shamefully
daring and wanton.... They swore, laugh'd and talked obscenely"[4]), and
by their glorification by the mob (according to Fielding the criminal at
Tyburn was "triumphant," and enjoyed the "compassion of the meek and
tender-hearted, and ... the applause, admiration, and envy, of all the
bold and hardened"[5]), serious-minded men rightly wondered what valid
end the execution of the law served. And of course it was not merely
that the criminal died unrepentant or that the spectators remained
unedified and undeterred. The scene at Tyburn also reflected society's
failure to utilize a significant portion of its "most useful members," a
failure disturbing to the dominant mercantile attitude of the time which
valued "the bodies of men" as potential sources of wealth (Mandeville's
concern with the usefulness of the lower class is obvious throughout the
first part of the _Fable of the Bees_ and in the _Essay on Charity, and
Charity-schools_).

Mandeville's subject, then, was one familiar to his readers and one
whose importance they recognized. His attitude toward his subject was
for the most part a thoroughly conventional one. For instance, his
primary assumption that the penal code must be harsh since its function
is to deter, not to reclaim, pervades eighteenth-century thought on the
subject and is clearly reflected in the number of offences carrying the
death penalty (160 when Blackstone wrote; 220 in the early nineteenth
century). Its logical culmination may be found in arguments such as
George Ollyffe presented in 1731. Ollyffe, noting that the frequency of
the death penalty was not deterring criminals, suggests that more
horrible forms of punishment be devised, such as breaking on the wheel,
"by which the Criminals run through ten thousand thousand of the most
exquisite Agonies ... during the unconceivable Torture of their
bruised, broken, and disjointed Limbs," or "twisting a little Cord hard
about their Arms or Legs," which would produce the "keenest Anguish."[6]
Ollyffe's public-spirited ingenuity should be a warning to modern
readers who assume that Mandeville's attitude is unusually harsh and
unfeeling.

Most of Mandeville's specific proposals too may be paralleled in the
many pamphlets of the time concerned with the criminal and the lower
class. To point out some of the similarities between Mandeville's and
Fielding's proposals (which he states most fully in _An Enquiry into the
late Increase of Robbers_, 1751) is not to posit direct influence but to
suggest the uniformity of opinion on these matters during many years.
Both Mandeville and Fielding argue for closer control over receivers of
stolen goods, against advertising in the paper to recover stolen goods,
against the false compassion of the tender-hearted who fail to prosecute
or of juries which fail to convict the guilty, against the
indiscriminate imprisonment of young with old, hardened criminals with
first offenders, men with women, and against frequent pardons. They
agree in demanding that the condemned should meet his death, soberly,
shortly after his conviction.[7]

Mandeville's suggestion that the bodies of the executed be turned over
to surgeons for dissection is not to be found in Fielding's pamphlet. It
does, however, become a part of the "Act for preventing the horrid Crime
of Murder" (25 Geo. II. c. 37), an act for which Fielding is often given
credit.[8] This suggestion, and that in Chapter VI to trade felons into
slavery (which as far as I know is Mandeville's own), clearly stem from
the impulse to increase the deterrent power of the law by making it more
terrible.

What distinguishes Mandeville's pamphlet (in addition to the
characteristically hard-headed bluntness of its author) is a quality
present in one degree or another in all his work: an exuberant delight
in creating scene. Throughout the _Fable of the Bees_, for example, but
especially in the first part, the argument is punctuated by vivid scenes
in which an idea is acted out or illustrated. Invariably these scenes
have a merit and interest beyond that owing to their function in the
argument. They are lively, vivid, picturesque, humorous or touching in
their own right. The reader can scarcely doubt that Mandeville enjoyed
composing them--he admits as much in the Preface to the _Enquiry_ when
he acknowledges, in defending the "lowness" of his subject, the
"Pleasure there is in imitating Nature in what Shape soever."

The gusto and vitality of the description of the events at Tyburn well
illustrate Mandeville's art. He puts us on the scene, lets us see and
hear the various actors, gives us telling detail: a bully rolling in the
mire; a putrified wig; a drunken old woman on a bulk; refuse flying
through the air; trollops in rags; a gin seller "squeez'd up in a
corner"; carcasses of dogs and cats. The scene is filled with objects
and has movement as well: the mob is a torrent which "bursts through the
gate," a "floating multitude." There is "jostling," "kicking dirt,"
"rolling"; peddlers "stir about," and one who has "ventured in the
Middle of the Current" is "fluctuating in the irregular Stream." The air
is filled with "oaths and vile expressions," and "loud laughter"; a
peddler "tears his Throat with crying his commodity." Mandeville orders
his scene spatially and chronologically, and he enforces its vividness
by relating the action in the present tense. Its basic unity, however,
is owing to the evaluation and control provided by the various tones of
the narrator's voice, which is alternately scornful and disgusted
("abandoned Rakehells") and almost playfully ironic ("he is the
prettiest Fellow among them who is the least shock'd at Nastiness";
"their darling Cordial, the grand Preservative of Sloth, Jeneva").

For one reader at least Mandeville is eminently successful in capturing
what must have been the appalling uproar and the dismaying quality of
the events at Tyburn. His vivid, circumstantial realism sets the
_Enquiry_ apart, as far as I know, from all other pamphlets dealing with
this sorry subject. If his views for the most part are conventional, his
style and technique are not, and in this respect the _Enquiry_ is best
compared not with other pamphlets but with Hogarth's portrayal of the
demise of the idle apprentice (Plate XI of the _Industrious and Idle
Apprentice_, 1747), in which Hogarth represents visually many of the
same details which Mandeville reports and in which he conveys a
comparable sense of the violent and brutal activity of the Tyburn mob.

FOOTNOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION

A NOTE ON THE TEXT

The letters (which Mandeville tells us were composed before Wild's
capture) appeared in nos. 128-133 of the _British Journal_ (Feb. 27,
Mar. 6, Mar. 13, Mar. 20, Mar. 27, and Apr. 3, 1725). The differences
between the text of the newspapers and that of the pamphlet have some
significance, for what alterations there are suggest that Mandeville was
a fairly careful editor. The Preface to the pamphlet is entirely
new--its addition is one of several changes Mandeville made to put the
articles in pamphlet form. He also, for example, added a Table of
Contents, and gave headings to each chapter and, in one instance,
changed "Papers" to "Chapters."

Throughout minor changes (not clearly purposeful) in punctuation,
italicization, and capitalization occur, and occasionally a word is
changed ("Holland" becomes "Leyden," p. 27) or a word is inserted ("none
of them should" becomes "none of them likewise should," p. 13), but only
three changes may be called substantial. (1) In the first newspaper
article the following sentence appeared in the text in brackets after
the footnoted sentence on p. 3 of the pamphlet: "Here I beg leave to
observe, that the greatest Part of this Treatise was wrote some Months
before Jonathan Wild was apprehended; and that as nothing was said of
him, but what may be equally applied to any one, who either now follows,
or shall take upon him the same Employment, I keep to the original
Manuscript, imagining the Reader will be better pleased to see the
Author's Sentiments concerning Jonathan, and the Trade he drove before
his Commitment, than any Alterations that might be expected from
what has happen'd since." (2) The phrase on p. 17, "with Applause,
and repeated with Impunity," corrects the newspaper version "with
Impunity, and repeated with Applause." (3) On p. 25, lines 3 through
17 appear only in the pamphlet, the newspaper version reading merely
"... of Course, we seldom meet with any Thing that is edifying, or
moving."

The pamphlet is reproduced from the copy at the Huntington Library.

AN
ENQUIRY
INTO THE
CAUSES
OF THE
FREQUENT EXECUTIONS
AT
_TYBURN_:

AND

_A_ PROPOSAL _for some_ REGULATIONS _concerning_
FELONS _in_ PRISON, _and the good
Effects to be Expected from them_.

To which is Added,

A Discourse on TRANSPORTATION, and a Method
to render that Punishment more Effectual.

By _B. MANDEVILLE_, M.D.

_Oderunt peccare Mali formidine Poenae._

_LONDON_,
Printed: And Sold by _F. Roberts_ in _Warwick-Lane_.
MDCCXXV.

THE

PREFACE

The Design of this small Treatise, is to lessen if not prevent the
common Practice of Thieving, and save many Lives of the loose and
indigent Vulgar, of which now such great Numbers are yearly lavish'd
away for Trifles. In order to this, I have endeavour'd to set in a true
Light the destructive Consequences of _Theftbote_, and the Damage the
Publick sustains from the Trade that is drove by Thiefcatchers, and the
various ways now in vogue of compounding Felonies, by which the Safety
as well as Maintenance of Thieves and Pilferers are industriously taken
care of, and the Laws that enforce Prosecution altogether eluded.

To the same Purpose I have pointed at the Licentiousness and other
Disorders of _Newgate_, arising from the wrong Method we have of
treating common Felons in Prison. I have describ'd the Transactions of
Execution Day, with the Procession to _Tyburn_, and demonstrated what
small Advantage they are of, as well to the condemn'd themselves, whose
grand Affair it is to prepare themselves for another World, as to their
Companions who should be deterred, or the rest of the Spectators, who
should be struck with the Awfulness of the Solemnity. I have likewise
searched into the Origin of Courage, and the wrong Judgments that are
differently pass'd on the dying Behaviour of Malefactors, shew'd the ill
Consequences as well as Absurdity of our mistaking Drunkenness for
Intrepidity, and a senseless Deportment for Undauntedness; and touch'd
on the several Neglects and Mismanagements that are accessary, and one
way or other contribute to the Encrease and Support of Felons, and
consequently, the Frequency of Executions. Afterwards I have in a
Chapter by it self offer'd some Proposals for a better Usage, and more
proper Treatment of common Felons in Confinement, and made a Pathetical
Representation of the good Effects we might probably expect from such
wholesome Regulations. To these I have added a Discourse on
Transportation, and a Method of rendering that Punishment not only more
effectual on the Criminals, but likewise advantagious to the Publick in
the most extraordinary manner.

I am not so vain as to place any Merit in the Performance, or promise my
self the Applause of many: on the contrary, I expect to be censur'd, and
perhaps deservedly, for the uncouth Decorations I have intermix'd with
my Subject. Men of Taste and Politeness will think themselves very
little oblig'd to me for entertaining them with the meanest and most
abject part of low Life, for almost a whole Chapter together; and tell
me that the Inside of _Newgate_, either on an Execution Day, or any
other, is not a Scene they ought to be troubled with; and that the
Exactness of a Picture among the Judicious is of little Worth where the
noble manner is wanting. To this I could answer that, if I have
trespassed against the Laws either of Elegance or Formality, I was
forc'd to it by what is superior to all Laws, Necessity. When a Man is
to inspire his Readers with an Aversion to what they are unacquainted
with, he can never compass his End without furnishing them first with a
general Idea of the Thing against which he wou'd raise their
Indignation: I could add that, when a Piece is lively and tolerably
finish'd, the good-natured Critick will pardon the Meaness of the
Design, for the sake of the Colouring and the Application of the Master.
But if neither of these Excuses are thought sufficient, I must plead
guilty, and confess that the Pleasure there is in imitating Nature in
what Shape soever is so bewitching, that it over-rules the Dictates of
Art, and often forces us to offend against our own Judgment.

As there are in this City not a few Men of Business and good
Understanding, whose Leisure allows them not to read much beyond the
Publick News, and most of them are concern'd in the Contents of this
Pamphlet, I caused the several Chapters of it to be Printed in as many
Papers of the _British_ Journal; imagining that its having been
dispers'd, and, as it were, advertis'd in that manner, could give no
Offence to the more Curious, who would chuse to have it entire by it
self, and peruse it in a Character less troublesome to the Eyes.

In the first Chapter I should have taken notice of a Clause in an Act of
Parliament that was made in the Fourth Year of His present Majesty, and
is call'd, _An Act for the further Preventing Robbery, Burglary, and
other Felonies_, &c. The candid Reader I hope will pardon the Neglect,
occasion'd by the small Acquaintance I have with the Law, and give me
leave in this Place to repair that Omission. The Words are these.

And whereas there are several Persons who have secret Acquaintance
with Felons, and who make it their Business to help Persons to their
stollen Goods, and by that Means gain Money from them, which is
divided between them and the Felons, where-by they greatly encourage
such Offenders: Be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That
whenever any Person taketh Money or Reward, directly or indirectly,
under Pretence, or upon account of helping any Person or Persons to
any stollen Goods or Chattels, every such Person so taking Money or
Reward, as aforesaid (unless such Person doth apprehend, or cause to
be apprehended such Felon who stole the same, and cause such Felon
to be brought to his Trial for the same, and give Evidence against
him) shall be guilty of Felony, and suffer the Pains and Penalties
of Felony, according to the felony committed in stealing such Goods,
and in such and the same manner, as if such Offender had himself
stole such Goods and Chattels, in the manner and with such
Circumstances as the same were stollen.

Since the Printing of these Chapters, in the Paper aforesaid, I have
likewise been inform'd; that, as receiving Money for assisting others in
the Recovery of their stolen Goods, is by this Act made Felony; so by
the known Rules of Law, whoever is aiding and assisting thereto is of
Course guilty as an Accessary, and to incurr the same Punishment as the
Principal: and it cannot be doubted; but that he, who pays Money on such
an Occasion, is accessary to the Receiving of it; which well deserves
the Reflection of those who make no Scruple of redeeming the Goods that
had been stolen from them; as likewise does another Thing, which is,
that if he who takes Money for stolen Goods is a principal Felon, and
that he who pays it is a Felon, as being accessary, then he who by
publick Advertisements with Promises of Secrecy, and that no Questions
shall be asked, invites others to commit Felony, is guilty of a great
Misdemeanour, tho' it produce no Effect; but, if it do, the Person
publishing such Advertisement will be an Accessary likewise.

THE

CONTENTS.

CHAP. I.

OF THEFTBOTE; _or, the Crime
of Compounding of Felony_. Page 1

CHAP. II.

_Of the ill Consequences of_ THEFTBOTE,
_and the Licentiousness of Felons in_
Newgate. 9

CHAP. III.

_Of Execution Day, the Journey to_ Tyburn,
and _a Word in behalf of Anatomical
Dissections._ 18

CHAP. IV.

_Of the wrong Judgments that are pass'd
on the dying Behaviour of Malefactors._ 28

CHAP. V.

_Of Regulations concerning_ FELONS _in
Prison, and the good Effects to be expected
from them._ 37

CHAP. VI.

_Of_ TRANSPORTATION: _And a
Method to render that Punishment more
effectual._ 46

CHAP. I.

_Of_ THEFTBOTE; _or, the Crime of Compounding of Felony._

The Multitude of unhappy Wretches, that every Year are put to Death for
Trifles in our great Metropolis, has long been afflicting to Men of Pity
and Humanity; and continues to give great Uneasiness to every Person,
who has a Value for his Kind. Many good Projects have been thought of to
cure this Evil, by sapping the Foundation of it: A Society has been set
up to reform our Manners; and neither Workhouses, nor Discipline on
small Crimes, have been wanting: An Act has been made against prophane
Cursing and Swearing; and many Charity Schools have been erected. But
the Event has not answer'd hitherto the good Design of those Endeavours.
This City abounds as much with loose, lazy, and dishonest Poor; there
is as much Mischief done by ordinary Felons; and Executions for Theft
and Burglary are as frequent, at least, as ever: Nay, it is believed,
that _London_ is more pester'd with low Villany than any other Place
whatever, the Proportion of Bigness between them not left unconsider'd.
As there is no Effect without a Cause, so something must be the Reason
of this Calamity. I have long and carefully examined into this Matter,
and am forced to ascribe the Mischief complained of to two palpable
Evils, distinct from those we have in common with other large overgrown
Cities. One regards Prosecutions; the other the Treatment that is given
to Malefactors after they are taken. I shall begin with the first: I
mean the Neglect of them, occasion'd by our shameful Negotiations with
Thieves, or their Agents, for the Recovery of stolen Goods, by which, in
Reality, we become Aiders and Abetters to them.

The Law of _England_ is so tender of Mens Lives, that whoever justly
prosecutes, and convicts a Person of a Capital Crime, has nothing to
answer for to his Conscience, but, on the contrary, has done a Service
to his Country, without Offence to God, or the least Breach of Charity
to his Neighbour. But as every Body has not Strength of Mind and
Resolution enough to perform Duties that are repugnant to his Nature,
so, making Allowances for Human Frailties, I could excuse the
Backwardness of a meek home-bred Person, who should complain, That to
appear in open Court, and speak before a Judge, are terrible Things to
him. But I think it unpardonable, that a Man should knowingly act
against the Law, and by so doing powerfully contribute to the Increase,
as well as Safety and Maintenance, of Pilferers and Robbers, from no
other Principle, than a criminal Selfishness, accompany'd with an utter
Disregard to the Publick: Yet nothing is more common among us.[9] As
soon as any Thing is missing, suspected to be stolen, the first Course
we steer is directly to the Office of Mr. _Jonathan Wild_. If what we
want is a Trinket, either enamel'd, or otherwise curiously wrought; if
there is Painting about it; if it be a particular Ring, the Gift of a
Friend; or any Thing which we esteem above the real Value, and offer
more for it than Mr. _Thief_ can make of it, we are look'd upon as good
Chaps, and welcome to redeem it. But if it be plain Gold or Silver, we
shall hardly see it again, unless we pay the Worth of it. Some Years
ago, it is true, a Man might, for half a Piece, have fetch'd back a
Snuff-Box that weigh'd twenty or thirty Shillings: But this was in the
Infancy of the Establishment. Now they are grown wiser, and calculate
exactly what such a Thing will melt down for: To offer less is thought
unreasonable; and unless Mr. _Thief-catcher_ stands your Friend indeed,
if you have it, you will seldom save any Thing but the Fashion. If in
this Place you can hear no Tidings of your Goods, it is counted a Sign,
that they are in the Hands of irregular Practitioners, that steal
without Permission of the Board. In this Case we immediately put in an
Advertisement in some News-Paper or other, with a Promise, that such a
Reward will be given, and no Questions asked. I own, that in the
Printing of these short Epistles there is no manner of Harm, if we
abstract the Act itself from the Concern the Publick has in it. The
Tenor of them is rather benevolent than injurious: And a Panegyrist on
the present Times might justly say of them, That in no Performances the
true Spirit of Christianity was so conspicuous as in these: That they
were not only free from Calumny and ill Language, but likewise so void
of Reproach, that speaking to a Thief, we never call'd him so in those
charitable Addresses: That in them the very Catalogues of Injuries
receiv'd, were penn'd with as little Heat, or Resentment, as ever
Tradesman shew'd in a Bill of Parcels directed to his best Customer:
That here we are so far from hating our Enemy, that we proffer him a
Recompence for his Trouble, if he will condescend to let us have our
own again; and leaving all Revenge to God, to shew that we are willing
to forgive and forget, we consult, in the most effectual Manner, the
Safety of a Person that deserves Hanging for the Wrong he has done us.
Yet, notwithstanding the kind Constructions that may be put on these
Civil Offers, they all tend to the _Compounding of Felony_, and are the
Occasion of a double Mischief: They invite the Indigent and Lazy to pick
Pockets, and render the Negligent more careless than probably they would
be, was this Practice abolish'd. A Pocket-Book, or Memorandum, may be
stole from a Man that is of vast Concern to him, and yet of no Use but
to the Owner: If this be taken by a regular Thief, a listed Pilferer, it
is easily recover'd for a small Reward. I don't suppose any one so
silly, that therefore he would go to Places, and into Companies, on
Purpose to have his Pocket pick'd; but I can't help thinking, that if
those Things were never to be heard of again, and the Loss
irretrievable, many young Rakes, and other loose Reprobates, would be
under greater Apprehensions, and more upon their Guard, at least when
they had such a Charge about them, than the Generality of them now are.
And again, if nothing could be made of Letters, Papers, and Things of
that Nature, such as have no known Worth, and are not readily turned
into Money, the numbers of Whores and Rogues, young and old, that are
employ'd in the Diving Trade, would decrease considerably; many of them,
from a Principle of Prudence, refusing to meddle with any Thing else.
For as on most of the Things now spoke of, no real Value can be set, the
Punishment would be inconsiderable, if any, should the Things be found
upon them, or themselves be taken in the Fact. Most Men will agree to
all this, whilst unconcern'd; but when private Interest is touch'd, it
soon stifles these Considerations. I should be a Fool, says one, when a
Thing of Value is stolen from me, not to get it back, if I can, for a
Trifle. If I lose a Sword, or a Watch, I must have another; and to save
the Fashion in these Things is considerable: It is better to lose the
Half than the Whole. I have nothing to do with the Thief, says another,
if I have my own again, it is all I want: What Good would it do to me to
have a poor Fellow hang'd? A Third, more compassionate, will tell us,
that if he knew the Thief, he would not meddle with him; and that he
would lose ten times the Value of what has been taken from him, rather
than be the Occasion of a Man's Death. To these I reply, that the
Legislators seem to have known how the Generality of Men would argue,
and what Excuses they would make; they had an Eye on the Frailty of our
Nature; consider'd, that all Prosecutions are troublesome, and often
very expensive; that most Men preferred their own Interest, their Ease
and Pleasure, to any Regard of the Publick; and therefore they provided
against our Passions with so much Severity. _Compounding of Felony_ is
not prohibited under a small Penalty, or attoned for by a little Fine;
it is next to Felony; and the most creditable Citizen, that is convicted
of it, ceases to be an honest Man.

The Offence in our Law is call'd THEFTBOTE; of which my Lord Chief
Justice _Coke_ says, "That it is an Offence beyond Misprision of Felony;
for that is only a bare Concealment of his bare Knowledge: But that it
is THEFTBOTE when the Owner not only knows of the Felony, but takes of
the Thief his Goods again, or Amends for the same to favour or maintain
him, that is, not to prosecute him, to the Intent he may escape. The
Punishment of THEFTBOTE is Ransom and Imprisonment." THEFTBOTE (as
described by Act of Parliament) _est emenda furti capta absque
consideratione curiae domini regis_. Sir _Matthew Hale_, in his _Pleas of
the Crown_, says, "That THEFTBOTE is more than a bare Misprision of
Felony, and is, where the Owner doth not only know the Felony, but takes
his Goods again, or other Amends, not to prosecute."

This Rigour of the Legislature is a full Demonstration, that they
thought it a Crime of the most pernicious Consequence to the Society;
yet it is become familiar to us; and our Remissness in several Matters,
relating to Felons, is not to be parallell'd in any other civiliz'd
Nation. That Rogues should be industriously dispers'd throughout the
City and Suburbs; that different Hours and Stations should be observ'd
among them, and regular Books kept of stollen Goods; that the
Superintendent in this hopeful Oeconomy should almost every Sessions,
for a Reward, betray, prosecute, and hang one or more of this his
Acquaintance, and at the same Time keep on his Correspondence amongst
the Survivors, whom, one after another, he sends all to their Triangular
Home; that Magistrates should not only know and see this, but likewise
continue to make use of such a Person for an Evidence, and in a manner
own that they are beholden to him in the Administration of Justice;
That, I say, all these Things should be Facts, is something very
extraordinary, in the Principal City, and the Home Management of a
Kingdom, so formidable abroad, and of such Moment in the Balance of
_Europe_, as that of _Great Britain_.