, let it have been of what
fatal Nature soever, without regard to the Person to whom it might be expos'd:
This Necessity of Nature, is a Thing which Works sometimes with such Vehemency,
in the Minds of those who are guilty of any atrocious Villany; such as a secret
Murther in particular, that they have been oblig'd to Discover it, tho' the
Consequence has been their own Destruction: Now, tho' it may be true that the
divine Justice ought to have the Glory of all those Discoveries and Confessions,
yet 'tis as certain that Providence which ordinarily Works by the Hands of
Nature, makes Use here, of the same natural Causes to produce those
extraordinary Effects.
    I could give several remarkable Instances of this in my long Conversation
with Crime, and with Criminals; I knew one Fellow, that while I was a Prisoner
in Newgate, was one of those they called then Night-fliers, I know not what Word
they may have understood it by since; but he was one, who by Connivance was
admitted to go Abroad every Evening, when he play'd his Pranks, and furnish'd
those honest People they call Thief-Catchers with Business to find out the next
Day, and restore for a Reward, what they had stolen the Evening before: This
Fellow was as sure to tell in his Sleep all that he had done, and every Step he
had taken, what he had stolen, and where, as sure as if he had engag'd to tell
it waking, and therefore he was oblig'd after he had been out to lock himself
up, or be locked up by some of the Keepers that had him in Fee, that no Body
should hear him; but on the other Hand, if he had told all the Particulars, and
given a full Account of his Rambles and Success to any Comrade, any Brother
Thief, or to his Employers, as I may justly call them, then all was well, and he
slept as quietly as other People.
    As the publishing this Account of my Life, is for the sake of the just Moral
of every Part of it, and for Instruction, Caution, Warning, and Improvement to
every Reader, so this will not pass I hope for an unnecessary Digression,
concerning some People, being oblig'd to disclose the greatest Secrets either of
their own, or other Peoples Affairs.
    Under the Oppression of this Weight, I labour'd in the Case I have been
Naming; and the only Relief I found for it, was to let my Husband