62 THE SCAMP'S HISTORY. 



at Bridewell." "Do," says he, "and wel- 

 come ; I've been in a good many times, and 

 never came out but I'd learnt some new 

 move or other. I've nothing to thank you 

 for," he went on; "you'd have spoilt my 

 trade altogether by dressing me up, only I'd 

 the luck to change your old clothes for 

 these ; and we drank your health into the 

 bargain." 



The fellow's impudence tickled the squire ; 

 and when he saw he'd been drinking, and 

 was mighty talkative, he gets off his horse, 

 and bidding me hold his head, said to him : 

 "Come, you're a clever rascal; give me 

 your history, and I'll give you another half- 

 crown. Where do you come from, and how 

 do you live?" "With all my heart," says 

 he, "only let's have the half-crown down. 

 I don't come far from here only the next 

 village : but I've been away so long nobody 

 knows me; and what brought me here I 

 can't tell now ; though I did seem to think, 

 before I got here, that I must have a look 

 at the old place, and the fields again where 

 I'd played : but now I wish I hadn't come. 

 I was made a beggar of from a boy, and that 

 no great fault of mine either. I was bird- 



