been almost twelve months a prisoner, confined, destitute of friends, money, &c. so that it hath been purely the providence of God that hath hitherto supported me. I thank God my confinement was not occasioned either by murder or felony, or any ill thing; but an Irishman, (whom I pray God forgive) swore against me, that, by vertue of bills, I raised money for the use of King James. Now, to make you sensible that I never acted any such thing, and that those things, which were laid to my charge, were as false as hell; you may remember, that, during my abode among you, and amidst the worst of times, I was one who stood up for the vindication of the church of England, and altogether against the Roman catholicks; whereas, if I had not a member of the church of England been, then was the time (when authority was on my side) to lift up my head; yet, at the same time, as you can all bear me witness, I stood in the gap against their doctrine and clandestine actions: all which, me-thinks, is sufficiently demonstrable, that they have lain to my charge things that I know not of; yet for the same a fine was laid upon me, under which I now labour, to the great disquiet of my soul, and the starving of my natural body, which, if not supported, will suddenly (being not able to subsist any longer) be transformed into its first matter. May it therefore please you, and all the vertuous gentlewomen of that college, so far to cast a compassionate eye on my most miserable and despicable condition, as to extend your charitable benevolence toward my enlargement here hence, and send it me this week by a trusty hand. The reason why I begg it this week, is because I have employed one to remove me to the king's-bench, where I expect my freedom, and, in the mean time, some employ, whereby to keep soul and body together; but, if continued here, I shal perish out of pure want: therefore I hope you will putt on bowels which are human, and lend your helping hand to a fallen brother. I pray God incline your hearts to do things for God's glory and the good of the church; and I beg leave

to remain

Your most humble servant,

and affectionate brother in the Lord, ROBERT YOUNG.

My most humble service to you all in general, whom I pray God keep and support now and for ever.

I have lately given me 30s. toward my removal to the King's-bench, but it will cost 41.

Direct for me at the masters side debtors, in Newgate, London. For Mrs. Young, or Mrs. Craige, widows, or any other widows of the college in Bromley in Kent.

I am now attending Robert Young in his next stages to St. Albans and Litchfield, where he managed his business for a time without Mary Hutt, and some time in concert with her, and both times like himself.

The season, indeed, of his coming to, and acting in these places was, of all others, most proper to conceal the impudent knaveries he practised there, and in the parts thereabout, it being towards the latter end of the year 1688, and the beginning of 1689, (the very time when all men's minds were amused with greater matters, and intent upon the revolution of the government, which happened during that interval) for, as it is usually found, that the little mean thieves and pick-purses are wont to have the greatest harvest in places where there is the greatest bustle and croud, and where they find most quarrels and frays; so this great rogue could not wish for a fitter occasion to escape unperceived in his cheats, than when there was such an universal combustion in all parts of the nation, and when men were generally more sollicitous to save their lives than their pockets.

And, accordingly, he made use of this opportunity, both at St. Albans and Litchfield, to the best advantage for his designs; so that I find a world of new matter rising up before me, both that city, and that town, and all those countries resounding, to this day, with the noise of his and his pretended wife's forgeries, and other their lewd pranks.

But, out of mere compassion to my reader, and, indeed, weariness in myself, I will reduce, into as narrow a compass as I can, that part of their history, which else, perhaps, would have proved more copious than any of the rest.

It may therefore suffice, that I only give some few undoubted proofs, to justify what I have already affirmed of his behaviour at St. Albans, and at Litchfield. First, here are two letters to give an account of his general conversation at Litchfield; and then several other letters and informations concerning the notorious forgeries, which he practised on Mr. Clark of Northampton, Mr. Mathew of Daventry, and Mr. Olds of Coventry; and also the depositions of Robert Young's own servant, and Mary Young herself at Litchfield; and, lastly, the forged bills and letters of advice, by which they accomplished all these cheats.

First, A letter to me, concerning Robert Younge's Life, during his stay at Litchfield, from a reverend clergyman of that cathedral,

MY LORD,

Litchfield, July 23, 1692. I Received this morning your lordship's of the twentieth instant, and have here inclosed as much, as the shortness of time would permit, of Young's carriage in this place. I shall be glad, if this may help to clear the innocent, and detect the fraud of villains.

Robert Young, who pretended to be an Irish clergyman, and to have good church-preferment in Ireland, and a considerable temporal estate, lived for some time in Litchfield, and lodged with one Moreton, who kept a publick house.

During his being here, he was observed to have store of gold and silver, and some plate.

He kept his man and two horses, and rode often abroad, but, as many observed, more like a highwayman than a divine. Before

he left this place, he went to lodge at a private house, where the gentlewoman's maid was debauched, and, some say, by him.

He made love to a gentleman's daughter in Tamworth, and, in all likelihood, had married her, if a woman had not come hither, whom he owned to be his wife.

It is said, he would have given his man money to have killed this woman, whom he owned to be his wife; which when the man refused to do, he attempted to kill him.

He was arrested here first for debt, and afterwards for taking bills of exchange out of the mail, and, from this prison, was removed to Newgate. There is one Mr. Mathew at Daventry, who, as I hear, can give more account of Young's rogueries. I am,

Your lordship's, &c.

L. A.

Secondly, The substance of a letter to Sir R. R. from a person of worth and credit at Litchfield, to the same purpose as the former :

I

SIR.

Have made the utmost inquiry I can into Young's behaviour, whilst he was at Litchfield, which was not above a quarter of a year, or thereabouts. When he came first hither, he was very full of money and plate; pretended to be a dean in Ireland, and to have a plentiful estate there, and to have brought the money and plate thence. So soon as he became a little acquainted, he began to inquire out for a fit person to make him a wife, and presently fell in league with a woman at Tamworth (who was to have a thousand pounds to her portion) and had prevailed with her to marry him, as he himself boasted; but, while it was in fieri, there came a woman hither, who said she was his wife, and who, doubtless, was so; and the villain, as his man reported, would have hired him to have killed her, and, upon his refusal, endeavoured to kill him. Before he came to Litchfield, it seems, he had been for some time at St. Albans, where, by courting the post-master's daughter, he obtained the privilege of looking into the pacquets, and by that means got divers letters into his custody, which had bills for return of money inclosed in them; with which he posted his wife to London, who there received a good part of the money. This we know by the relation of Mr. Olds, a mercer in Coventry, and of another mercer in Daventry; the former of which, coming hither and surprising him, while he had money and plate left, got as much in value, as satisfied his bill; and the latter, being sent hither by him, in two or three days after, seized his person, and got him committed to the towngaol, and thence removed him to London, where he was tried, and convicted of these and some other such roguish practices, and pilloried for them.

Sir, I am, &c.

Thirdly, A Letter to me from Mr. Allestree, Minister of Daventry, touching Robert Young's demeanor at Litchfield, and particularly his forging Bills of Exchange, under the Names of Mr. Olds and Mr. Mathew.

I

MY LORD,

Daventry, Sept. 20, 1692.

Have, in obedience to your lordship's desires, inquired concerning the villainies that Robert Young has perpetrated here, and made this place the stage thereof, and I am furnished with such unquestionable intelligence, and such abundance of matter of this kind, that does sufficiently discover the disposition of the man, and the pravity of his mind, that he is prepared by nature, custom, or indigence, for any sort of wickedness: so that knowing certainly the many cheats he has acted here, and in our neighbourhood, without compunction or remorse, it is no wonder to me, that, by degrees, he is risen at last to attempt the life of others, by the trade of forgery, and swearing men into treasonable acts and associations. About the latter end of the year 1688, we were alarmed with the news of a notorious cheat that had been practised upon Mr. Shipton in Friday-street, by a villain who had forged the hand of Mr. Justice Mathew, of this town, and copied his letters so exactly, that he himself could not discover the difference by the strokes of the pen, or disown the writing upon view, but only by being conscious to himself that he had never written, or set his hand to any paper of that moment and importance; so that Mr. Shipton, who was his correspondent in London, was easily imposed upon by the similitude of hands, and paid two-hundred pounds upon a pretended bill drawn upon him from Mr. Mathew. When the following post gave notice of the payment of the money, and also of the order that was followed therein, all endeavours were speedily used to apprehend and discover the impostor, and many journies were undertaken into several countries, in pursuit of him; but all inquiry and search for the detection of the theft, and of the author, were fruitless and unsuccessful, till it happened, after some considerable distance of time, that, the news of this cheat spreading far and wide, one Mr. Olds of Coventry sent word to Mr. Mathew, that he had been formerly cheated of fourteen pounds, that he had discovered the rogue that had forged his hand, and that he had given him satisfaction for his money. He did not know but this might be the man that had put the like trick upon him in a greater sum, and referred it to his consideration, whether it would be worth his while to go so far as Litchfield for enquiry and satisfaction. It will not be improper in this place, my lord, to trace things from the beginning, and examine how Mr. Olds came by this intelligence, that helped him to the recovery of his money; the cheat that was put upon him was of an ancient standing, and he had been a long time under the sense of the loss of his money, without any expectation ever to retrieve it. Now this Young, who had practised these rogueries upon him, and divers others, and by these frauds had lined his pockets with a competent sum, both of gold and silver, repairs to Litchfield

in a decent habit; pretends himself an Irish protestant and refugee, one that was persecuted for righteousness, and had lost all for the sake of the gospel. The dean and prebendaries believe him, and receive him with a great deal of civility, charity, and humanity, permitting him to preach in their several courses, that so their benevolence to him might be greater, and seem like an act of justice, and the discharging of a debt.

In this pomp, with all manner of accommodation, he resides a long time among them at Litchfield, and follows the sports that were suitable to the season, whilst his wife, by his instructions, is carrying on her usual cheats at London. Now having represented himself a batchelor, he made his court to a young woman, and had advanced far in her esteem; but the detection of his rogueries broke off the intrigue. For, his wife sending him word that she was coming down to him, he went forth one morning with his servant (who carried his gun after him) a shooting, and there proposed to him the killing of her, offering him a great reward for his pains. But, the motion being rejected with abhorrence, he threatened to be revenged of him, and cut his throat.

The man, believing his master was very serious in his threatenings, and that he would accomplish his malice, when privacy and night favoured him, run away from his service; and knowing the cheat, that had been acted upon Mr. Olds, repaired as fast as he was able to Coventry, to give him notice of it; and he accordingly went down to Litchfield, charged Mr. Young with the forgery, who, rather than he would hazard the losing of his credit and his station with the prebends, gave him satisfaction immediately.

And now, my lord, I am arrived at the point of time, which made way for the discovery of Mr. Mathew's cheat; the account of which I will choose to give you in his own words, and insert in the body of this letter:

About the latter end of February, 1688, one Mary Young had a bill of nine pounds on Mr. Shipton, which said sum she received 'the fourth of March following, of him, at the Seven Stars in Fri'day-street. On the nineteenth, and on the twenty-first of the said March, both my letters of cash concerns were opened, transcribed, and counterfeited; and advice given of a two-hundred pounds bill, which was also counterfeited; upon which Mr. Shipton paid 'to the said Mary Young two-hundred pounds, the twenty-second ' of March following. Robert Young lay at St. Albans, as was sup'posed, and, by corrupting the post-master there, had opportunity of counterfeiting my letters: some time after, the said Mary 'Young was taken at the Maiden-head and Three Kings in Cheapside, with a counterfeit bill on Mr. Billers, pretended to be drawn by Mr. Joseph Olds of Coventry; she was then charged 'with the cheat she had put upon Mr. Shipton, and was committed to Wood-street Compter, from whence she removed herself to 'the King's-Bench, in Southwark, and, when the fire broke out · there, made her escape.