THE
HISTORY
OF
MOLL FLANDERS.
MY Father was hanged for felony, and my mother transported for the same crime, after she was delivered of me in Newgate. I was soon after taken away by some gypsies, who left me at Colchester in Essex, where the magistrates put me to a nurse, with whom I lived 13 years, when I was fancied by a rich gentlewoman, for my nice needle work. I lived happily here some time, till at length my lady's eldest son fell in love with me; he promised to marry me when he came of age, and prevailed on me in the mean time to surrender my virginity. Scarcely a year had elapsed before his younger brother also fell in love with me, and declared openly his desire to marry me, and as my first lover had now grown indifferent, I resolved, with his consent, and although I was with child, to marry his brother. The wedding was held privately; and having contrived to get my new husband very drunk before he came to bed, I easily persuaded him I was a virgin. In two years after he died leaving two children, who were taken care
