James Hardy Vaux

“ I answered, that bad as be had proved himself, I could not believe him so totally depraved as to persist in the wicked story he had before told, now that he was standing at my elbow, and could no longer hope to extricate himself at my expense; and I, therefore, begged he might be questioned. The bench then asked Edwards, “If there was any truth in the story he had told his master about Vaux?” when, to my surprise and unspeakable horror, he answered, (hanging down his head,) “Yes, Gentlemen, it is, every word of it, true!” ”

“ About three months after my return to London, and whilst in the zenith of my success, I was introduced by one of my former dissolute companions to the acquaintance of a young woman, who, like myself, had been well and tenderly brought up, but having been seduced by a young man equally inexperienced with herself, to quit her friends and cohabit with him as his wife, she had thereby forfeited the countenance of her family, and her paramour having died after a year's cohabitation, she had been driven to the usual refuge in such cases, a life of prostitution. ”

“ My grandfather had of course many acquaintances in London, of his own profession, to several of whom he furnished me with letters of recommendation; it being his wish, that I should by a few months' practice in a law office, ascertain how far I was disposed to be articled for the usual period, necessary to procure my admission. I had always been prepossessed in favour of this profession, which I knew from my reading and experience, to abound in variety, and, if I may be allowed the phrase, in pleasing perplexity. ”

“ I have since learned that Edwards, after his being committed to jail, having heard that I had given up the money he left with me, conceived I had acted treacherously towards him; and, therefore, with the double motive of injuring me, and palliating his own guilt, had the next day requested to be taken before his master, and feigning contrition, had then fabricated the vile and improbable story recited by Cubitt to the court; artfully judging that I being much older than himself, should be considered the most culpable, and he as an innocent youth, led astray by my machinations. ”

“ In fact, though scarce twenty years of age, nothing was wanting to fill up the measure of his wickedness, but the blackest of all crimes,–an act of murder! and, as if he laboured to attain the summit of human depravity, that act he soon afterwards virtually committed; for being at length, on one of his elopements from the coal river, apprehended and lodged in Sydney Jail, at a period when many prisoners, of bad character, were about being embarked for the settlements on Van Dieman’s land, Edwards was included in the number. ”

“ But I was not put to that trouble; for the Recorder addressing the jury, said, "Gentlemen, I must in this stage of the trial, deliver it as my opinion, that I cannot see any grounds for charging the prisoner with felony. Gentlemen, the accident of finding a snuff-box might have happened to one of yourselves, to me, or to any other honest man; and, it would be hard indeed if such an accident should subject the finder to a prosecution for felony. If you are of my opinion, it will be unnecessary to recapitulate the evidence, or put the prisoner upon his defence." ”

“ GOOD, a place or person, which promises to be easily robbed, is said to be good, as, that house is good upon the crack; this shop is good upon the star; the swell is good for his montra; &c. A man who declares himself good for any favour or thing, means, that he has sufficient influence, or possesses the certain means to obtain it; good as bread, or good as cheese, are merely emphatical phrases to the same effect. See Caz.
GORY, a term synonymous with cove, gill, or gloak, and like them, commonly used in the descriptive. See Flat and Swell. ”

“ The first month or honey-moon of our connexion being expired, and the Astræa long departed from the river, I began to revolve in my mind the means of future subsistence. As I had spared no expense to render our retirement pleasing, and had purchased for myself a suit of plain clothes, I now found myself reduced to my last guinea, and I knew that unless I hit upon some mode of speedily recruiting, I must have recourse to the pawnbroker for another. ”

“ To quit a person suddenly in the street, whether secretly or openly, is called turning him up. To turn a man up sweet, is to get rid of him effectually, but yet to leave him in perfect good humour, and free from any suspicion or discontent; this piece of finesse often affords a field for the exercise of consummate address, as in the case of turning up a flat, after having stript him of all his money at play, or a shopkeeper, whom you have just robbed before his face of something valuable, upon the pinch, or the hoist. ”

“ This of course produced an explanation, when it appeared that nothing whatever had transpired respecting the robbery I had committed, nor had Bromley seen or heard any more of the old gentleman after the latter quitted his company, which he did a few minutes after myself. I must, therefore, have been mistaken in my notion that he had observed my actions through the watch-maker's window, of which, at the moment, I entertained no doubt; so true it is, that a guilty conscience needs no accuser. ”

“ Having now leisure to reflect on the occurrences of the day, I began to consider my situation hopeless enough; the snuff-box having been traced to me, the circumstance of the pocket being cut, the scissors found, &c., altogether furnished a chain of evidence, too strong, I feared, to be overruled by my bare assertion, that I had found the property; a defence the most flimsy, but the most commonly resorted to. ”

“ FLAT. In a general sense, any honest man, or square cove, in opposition to a sharp or cross-cove; when used particularly, it means the person whom you have a design to rob or defraud, who is termed the flat, or the flatty-gory. A man who does any foolish or imprudent act, is called a flat; any person who is found an easy dupe to the designs of the family, is said to be a prime flat. It’s a good flat that’s never down, is a proverb among flash people; meaning, that though a man may be repeatedly duped or taken in, he must in the end have his eyes opened to his folly. ”

“ STAKE, a booty acquired by robbery, or a sum of money won at play, is called a stake, and if considerable, a prime stake, or a heavy stake. A person alluding to any thing difficult to be procured, or which he obtains as a great favour, and is therefore comparatively invaluable, would say, I consider it a stake to get it at all; a valuable or acceptable acquisition of any kind, is emphatically called a stake, meaning a great prize. ”

“ Myself and other persons, whose appearance was at all respectable, were also very courteously saluted by the females, who stand for hours peeping through the lattice-windows of the houses, which are half opened, so as to give them a view, and although most of these diffident ladies close the lattice and retire with precipitation, on the approach of a male stranger, yet many of them suffered me to hold a conversation for a few minutes; and I sometimes prevailed so far as to obtain one of their fair hands to kiss, a mark of great favour and condescension, even to their common acquaintances. ”

“ The going to this house was the maddest act I could possibly have committed, for the Bow-street officers were in the habit of visiting it at all hours; and several of them had seen me there at various times, dressed exactly in the manner described in the hand-bills I have mentioned. My wife, who appears to have had too sure a presentiment of what the consequence would be, used every art to dissuade me from my purpose, but in vain. ”

“ It was my fate to be drawn by a settler called "Big Ben," and with him I quitted the scene of action, and prepared to remove my little baggage to the farm of my new master. As I had been intimately acquainted with this man, and in fact with every inhabitant of Hawkesbury, when I formerly officiated as clerk to Mr. Baker, the store-keeper, I flattered myself that he would treat me with more kindness, or at least with less severity than a total stranger; and every one who recollected me, declared I had been fortunate in getting such a master ”

“ RAG-GORGY, a rich or monied man, but generally used in conversation when a particular gentleman, or person high in office, is hinted at; instead of mentioning his name, they say, the Rag-gorgy, knowing themselves to be understood by those they are addressing. See Cove, and Swell.
RAMP, to rob any person or place by open violence or suddenly snatching at something and running off with it, as, I ramp’d him of his montra; why did you not ramp his castor? &c. A man convicted of this offence, is said to have been done for a ramp. ”

“ I also heard, to my mortification, that from the changes which had taken place in public affairs since my departure from the colony, most of the departments were filled by strangers, from whom I could expect no indulgence; and that not only these officers, but the Governor himself, had conceived a violent prejudice against those unfortunate and misguided persons, who by a renewal of their vicious courses on returning to their native country, subject themselves to a second disgraceful banishment, and seem thereby to indicate that they are incapable of reformation, and systematically depraved. ”

“ Being anxious to see poor Bromley, whom I had not had an opportunity of apprizing of our removal from Drury-lane, I determined to venture out, and endeavour to find him at one of the houses I knew he frequented in that neighbourhood: for this purpose I disguised myself as much as I could, and going late in the evening to a public-house in Parker's lane, I found a number of dissolute characters of the lowest class, assembled there, but on looking round saw no appearance of Bromley. ”

“ WEIGH FORTY, term used by the police, who are as well versed in flash as the thieves themselves. It is often customary with the traps, to wink at depredations of a petty nature, and for which no reward would attach, and to let a thief reign unmolested till he commits a capital crime. ”

“ Rowley sent for a midshipman, whom he requested to shew me every attention, and to introduce me to his messmates as a person likely soon to become a brother Mid. This young man obeyed, with the greatest pleasure, and I soon became perfectly at home. My conductor next took me through every part of the hulk, and I was both pleased and astonished at the novelty of the objects I met with. The hulk had been a line-of-battle ship, and her interior was, of course, extensive and capacious. The decks were crowded with hucksters, who exposed provisions, fruits, and other articles for sale. ”

“ Moultrie, with a most unparalleled generosity, offered to place me at college on the same terms with his son, and at the end of three years, if he then withdrew the latter, to take upon himself the charge of my future fortune. Here was an offer from a gentleman of 2,000l. a year! I have always been of Shakspeare's opinion, that "There is a tide in the affairs of men," &c., and that most men have not only one, but several opportunities of attaining honour and prosperity. ”

“ Having, therefore, privately changed my place of abode, I began to consider how I should procure another employment in town, and for this purpose I carefully examined the advertisements in the daily papers, my intention being now to enter into a mercantile clerkship, or to engage as assistant in a retail shop, hoping thereby (with shame I confess it,) to have a better opportunity of realizing money by fraud or robbery, than I could expect in the restricted capacity of an attorney's clerk. ”

“ Vaux. "I hope not, your Excellency; I trust you will have"——
Governor. (Interrupting) "Well, I hope so too, Mr. Vaux; I hope so too, I hope so too, Sir; but mind—I only give you a caution; take care of yourself." ”

“ Among my domestic amusements I practised drawing, for which I had a good natural genius; but happening to be famished with some prints of running horses for imitation, and being a great admirer of that noble animal, I suddenly turned my whole attention to this subject, in which I soon became a pretty good proficient, considering my youth and that I never had any master, and it appears to have been my forte. These prints having always the pedigree and performances of the animal subjoined, insensibly gave me a passion for racing, which became my next hobby-horse. ”

“ To extricate a person from any dilemma, or save him from disgrace, is called stalling him off; as an accomplice of your’s being detected in a robbery, &c., and about to be given up to justice, you will step up as a stranger, interfere in his behalf, and either by vouching for his innocence, recommending lenity, or some other artifice, persuade his accusers to forego their intention, and let the prisoner escape; you will then boast of having stalled him off in prime twig. ”

“ In this neat little town, surrounded by the relatives of my grandmother, and many friends of his own, my grandfather having served his clerkship in the county, this worthy and truly virtuous couple enjoyed, for several years, uninterrupted happiness, their only care being centred in the education and indulgence of their grandson, of whom they every day became more extravagantly fond. ”

“ A tradesman or other person who is considered by the world to be an honest man, and who is unacquainted with family people, and their system of operations, is by the latter emphatically styled a square cove, whereas an old thief who has acquired an independence, and now confines himself to square practices, is still called by his old palls a flash cove, who has tyed up prigging. See Cross and Flat. In making a bargain or contract, any overture considered to be really fair and reasonable, is declared to be a square thing, or to be upon the square. ”

“ To gammon a person, is to amuse him with false assurances, to praise, or flatter him, in order to obtain some particular end; to gammon a man to any act, is to persuade him to it by artful language, or pretence; to gammon a shop-keeper, &c., is to engage his attention to your discourse, while your accomplice is executing some preconcerted plan of depredation upon his property; a thief detected in a house which he has entered, upon the sneak, for the purpose of robbing it, will endeavour by some gammoning story to account for his intrusion, and to get off with a good grace ”

“ FAKE AWAY, THERE’S NO DOWN, an intimation from a thief to his pall, during the commission of a robbery, or other act, meaning, go on with your operations, there is no sign of any alarm or detection.
FAKEMAN-CHARLEY; FAKEMENT. As to fake signifies to do any act, or make any thing, so the fakement means the act or thing alluded to, and on which your discourse turns; consequently, any stranger unacquainted with your subject will not comprehend what is meant by the fakement ”

“ The weather being delightfully fine, with a light and favourable breeze, every one was in high spirits, and the rites of Neptune having been celebrated in due form, a plentiful allowance of grog succeeded, which, by wetting the inside, made ample amends for the salt-water baptism, which all hands had mutually and liberally bestowed on each other without respect to rank or persons. ”

“ In the intervals of these occupations, I amused myself in walking about town, or viewing public exhibitions, but chiefly in reading books of entertainment and instruction, to the purchase of which, especially periodical works, I every day devoted a small sum: so that upon the whole, though. I obtained my money by dishonourable means, yet the manner in which I spent my life was harmless to myself ”