I30 ECHOES OF OLD COUNTY LIFE. 



porter there also for supper, but her mother would not 

 allow her to drink it. He was an accomplished villain^ 

 who made a religious exterior a cloak to his abominable 

 crimes. 



Tawell's life was a curious one ; he had been appren- 

 ticed to a chemist, and afterwards obtained a situation 

 in the house of Mar.sden and Sons, wholesale druggists, 

 where he became a model assistant, was put on the road 

 as traveller, and whilst thus employed he forged and 

 uttered a cheque on the Uxbridge Bank of Hull and Co., 

 who were also Quakers. At that time forgery was a 

 capital offence, and as the Quakers were averse to taking 

 away life, it was arranged that the criminal should plead 

 guilty to uttering the cheque, but not to forging, and he 

 was sentenced to be transported for fourteen years. He 

 was sent to Sydney, where his wife and family followed 

 him. From his good conduct he soon obtained a ticket- 

 of-leave, and set up a chemist's shop in Sydney, and 

 there rapidly obtained a fortune. His wife died, under 

 suspicious circumstances, of course. Obtaining a free 

 pardon, he returned to England, Sarah Hart accompany- 

 ing the family ; and hence the cottage at Salt Hill and 

 the two children. Married to Mrs. Cutforth, Tawell was 

 anxious to be reinstated in the brotherhood of the Society 

 of Friends, but, fearful of his liaison being discovered, 

 resolved to be rid of Sarah Hart. He was a sordid 

 wretch into the bargain ; as he had to pay his son's widow 

 ^^"50 a year, he tried to put her out of the way in the 

 same manner. There is little that is heroic about most 

 criminals. 



Imprisonment for debt often struck me as a very bar- 



