The eldest daughter was an heiress of large expectations, and my
proposals of marriage were favourably received. I might almost say that
Matilda was mine; when one day I received a letter from her father,
peremptorily forbidding my visits. I was thunderstruck. I hastened to
the house, and demanded an explanation. It was given in few words. _I
was referred to my uncle for any information I required_.

This blow struck me down. I had run through my patrimonial estate; but
hoped, by my marriage with Matilda, to repair my shattered fortune.
Three weeks after it was known that the match was broken off, I was
a prisoner for debt in the King's Bench! I breathed no curses upon
the cause of this sudden reverse of fortune, but--I swore revenge, in
silence; and I kept my oath. I languished away six months, a captive
debtor; and then, taking the benefit of the act, I walked forth a
beggar, to prey upon the world at large! I had studied, during that
time, in an admirable school, where I found professors in every art by
which fools are gulled, and knaves foiled with their own weapons. I was
an apt scholar, and returned to the bosom of society, an adept in the
science of _polished depredation_. Translate this into the language
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