1829-3 Aiilolnography of JoncUhan Wild, the Younger. 73 



wanted versatility. You might know him any where by his style. His 

 friend. Major Semple, on the contrary, though undervalued by his con- 

 temporaries, possessed far superior talents. He never operated twice in 

 the same manner ; yet such was his invariable adroitness, that he could, 

 I am persuaded, have picked the pockets of even the ghost in Hamlet. 

 His address, too, was mild and gentlemanlike, and he had the finest con- 

 ception of a burglary of any man I ever met with. 



To return from a digi-ession into which I have been beguiled by my 

 enthusiasm for departed genius: I had now been some years well 

 acquainted with a London life ; was respected at the east, and not 



undervalued at the west end ; and, with the exception of P , the 



police-officer, was looked on as the most promising artist about town. 

 But there are limits to human greatness : Napoleon was vanquished by 

 destiny, and I was peached by O'Connell. In consequence of this das- 

 tard's information, I was taken up, convicted, and transferred to his 

 Majesty's colony at New Holland, where, in the charming vicinity of 

 Sidney Town, I fell for the first time in love. Blissful state of the 

 human heart, when life is fresh, time uncounted, and earth a paradise ! 

 The object of my attachment was a pretty simple girl, aged sixteen, only 

 daughter of a Scotch emigrant, under whose superintendence I was kept 

 to hard labour — a grievance which so affected her, that, in the intervals 

 of relaxation, she would come and sit beside me, amusing me with her 

 sprightly prattle, and feeding me in secret with the choicest dainties 

 from her father's table. Such conduct could not but prove highly flat- 

 tering to an exile ; and, accordingly, in my excess of gratitude, when 

 from fear that my talents should rust for want of practice, I devoted a 

 certain portion of my day to the conscientious discharge of my vocation, 

 I invariably spared her own and her father's pockets. 



I cannot say much for the society of Sidney Town. It consists for the 

 most part of pick-pockets, a class of men, to whose inigentlemanlike 

 practices it is owing that transportation has been brought into such dis- 

 repute. I was once in this line myself, but took the earliest opportunity 

 of quitting it ; for, among the members of our fraternity, the burglar has 

 always been looked on as of superior rank to the mere pocket-operative. 

 In fact, the one is not pennitted to associate with the other. I have 

 hinted that the inhabitants of Sidney are low-lived : not only is this the 

 case, they are worse, they are positively barbarous. Instead of culti- 

 vating the gentilities, they cling to the vulgarities of society. The 

 majority are red-faced, and of Hibernian extraction ; but indeed Botany 

 Bay itself is, strictly speaking, nothing more nor less than an Irish 

 colony, all of whose members are zealous, and, I doubt not, conscientious 

 advocates of Emancipation. For one or two of the most eminent among 

 these Liberators I had brought letters of introduction from England, 

 but as I have always been particular in my company, I scorned to avail 

 myself of them, preferring instead the society of my first and only love. 

 This intimacy continued upwards of a year, at the end of which time, 

 Rosa — such was my fair one's name — presented me with a thumping 

 boy. This additional relationship sadly discomposed her father, and 

 quarrels on the subject daily took place between them, till at last the 

 distracted girl intreated me to take her altogether from home. At first 

 I felt inclined to comply, but when I reflected on the clog that would be 

 thereby thrown upon my genius, I resolved on declining the px'oposal. 



M.M. y^w .S'mw.— Vol.. VIII. No. 43. L 



