The Life and Death of Mr. Badman

Atten. I am afraid that there is •uch of this kind of pilfering among servants in these bad days of ours.

Atten. I am afraid that there is •uch of this kind of pilfering among servants in these bad dayes of ours.

Wise. Now, while it is in my mind,¹ I will tell you a story. When I was in prison, there came a woman to me that was under a great deal of trouble. So I asked her (she being a stranger to me) what she had to say to me. She said, she was afraid she should be damned. I asked her the cause of those fears. She told me ⟨p. 77⟩that she had sometime since lived with a Shop-keeper at Wellingborough, and had robbed his box in the Shop several times of Money, to the value of more than now I will say; and pray, says she, tell me what I shall do. I told her, I would have her go to her Master, and make him satisfaction: She said, she was afraid; I asked her why? She said, she doubted he would hang her. I told her, that I would intercede for her life, and would make use of other friends too to do the like; But she told me, she durst not venture that. Well, said I, shall I send to your Master, while you abide out of sight, and make your peace with him, before he sees you; and with that, I asked her her Masters name. But all that she said in answer to this, was, Pray let it alone till I come to you again. So away she went, and neither told me her Masters Name, nor her own•: This is about ten or twelve years since, and I never saw her again. I tell you this story for this cause; to confirm your fears, that such kind of servants too many there be; and that God makes them sometimes ⟨p. 78⟩like old Tod, of whom mention was made before, (through the terrors that he lays upon them) to betray themselves. I could tell you of another,