man of a great estate in the Fortunate
Islands, of which the sole property was vested in his person. By this
trick he cheated abundance of poor people of small sums, pretending to
make over plantations in the said islands; but when the poor wretches
came there with Jack's grant, they were beat, mocked, and turned out of
doors.

I told you that Peg was whimsical, and loved anything that was
particular. In that way Jack was her man, for he neither thought, spoke,
dressed, nor acted like other mortals. He was for your bold strokes. He
railed at fops, though he was himself the most affected in the world;
instead of the common fashion, he would visit his mistress in a
mourning-cloak, band, short cuffs, and a peaked beard. He invented a way
of coming into a room backwards, which he said showed more humility and
less affectation. Where other people stood, he sat; where they sat, he
stood; when he went to Court, he used to kick away the state, and sit
down by his prince cheek by jowl. "Confound these states," says he,
"they are a modern invention." When he spoke to his prince, he always
turned his back upon him. If he was advised to fast for his health, he
would eat roast beef; if he was allowed a more plentiful diet, then
he would be sure that day to live upon water-gruel; he would cry at a
wedding, laugh and make jests at a funeral.

He was no less singular in his opinions. You would have burst your sides
to hear him talk of politics. "All government," says he, "is founded
upon the right distribution of punishments: decent executions keep
the world in awe; for that reason, the majority of mankind ought to be
hanged every year. For example, I suppose the magistrate ought to pass
an irreversible sentence upon all blue-eyed children from the cradle;
but that there may be some show of justice in this proceeding, these
children ought to be trained up by masters, appointed for that purpose,
to all sorts of villany, that they may deserve their fate, and the
execution of them may serve as an object of terror to the rest of
mankind."* As to the giving of pardons, he had this singular method:**
that when these wretches had the rope about their necks, it should be
inquired who believed they should be hanged, and who not? The first were
to be pardoned, the last hanged outright. Such as were once pardoned
were never to be hanged afterwards for any crime whatsoever. He had such
skill in physiognomy, that he would pronounce peremptorily u