ngaged in his own reflections, to take notice of me. Of these, two were
imprisoned for horse-stealing, and three for having stolen a sheep, one
for shop-lifting, one for coining, two for highway-robbery, and two for
burglary.

The horse-stealers were engaged in a game at cards, which was presently
interrupted by a difference of opinion, attended with great
vociferation,--they calling upon one and another to decide it, to no
purpose; one paying no attention to their summons, and another leaving
them in the midst of their story, being no longer able to endure his own
internal anguish, in the midst of their mummery.

It is a custom among thieves to constitute a sort of mock tribunal of
their own body, from whose decision every one is informed whether he
shall be acquitted, respited, or pardoned, as well as respecting the
supposed most skilful way of conducting his defence. One of the
housebreakers, who had already passed this ordeal, and was stalking up
and down the room with a forced bravery, exclaimed to his companion,
that he was as rich as the Duke of Bedford himself. He had five guineas
and a half, which was as much as he could possibly spend in the course
of the ensuing month; and what happened after that, it was Jack Ketch's
business to see to, not his. As he uttered these words, he threw himself
abruptly upon a bench that was near him, and seemed to be asleep in a
moment. But his sleep was uneasy and disturbed, his breathing was hard,
and, at intervals, had rather the nature of a groan. A young fellow from
the other side of the room came softly to the place where he lay, with a
large knife in his hand: and pressed the back of it with such violence
upon his neck, the head hanging over the side of the bench, that it was
not till after several efforts that he was able to rise. "Oh, Jack!"
cried this manual jester, "I had almost done your business for you!" The
other expressed no marks of resentment, but sullenly answered, "Damn
you, why did not you take the edge? It would have been the best thing
you have done this many a day!"[B]

[Footnote B: An incident exactly similar to this was witnessed by a
friend of the author, a few years since, in a visit to the prison of
Newgate.]

The case of one of the persons committed for highway-robbery was not a
little extraordinary. He was a common soldier of a most engaging
physiognomy, and two-and-twenty years of age. The prosecutor, who had
been robbed one evening, as he retu