criminal actions than I had yet been concerned
in. It was now I became acquainted with Wilson, a remarkable man in his station
of life; quiet, composed, and resolute, firm in mind, and uncommonly strong in
person, gifted with a sort of rough eloquence which raised him above his
companions. Hitherto I had been
 
As dissolute as desperate, yet through both
Were seen some sparkles of a better hope.
 
But it was this man's misfortune, as well as mine, that, notwithstanding the
difference of our rank and education, he acquired an extraordinary and
fascinating influence over me, which I can only account for by the calm
determination of his character being superior to the less sustained impetuosity
of mine. Where he led I felt myself bound to follow; and strange was the courage
and address which he displayed in his pursuits. While I was engaged in desperate
adventures, under so strange and dangerous a preceptor, I became acquainted with
your unfortunate sister at some sports of the young people in the suburbs, which
she frequented by stealth - and her ruin proved an interlude to the tragic
scenes in which I was now deeply engaged. Yet this let me say - the villany was
not premeditated, and I was firmly resolved to do her all the justice which
marriage could do, so soon as I should be able to extricate myself from my
unhappy course of life, and embrace some one more suited to my birth. I had wild
visions - visions of conducting her as if to some poor retreat, and introducing
her at once to rank and fortune she never dreamt of. A friend, at my request,
attempted a negotiation with my father, which was protracted for some time, and
renewed at different intervals. At length, and just when I expected my father's
pardon, he learned by some means or other my infamy, painted in even exaggerated
colours, which was, God knows, unnecessary. He wrote me a letter - how it found
me out I know not - enclosing me a sum of money, and disowning me for ever. I
became desperate - I became frantic - I readily joined Wilson in a perilous
smuggling adventure in which we miscarried, and was willingly blinded by his
logic to consider the robbery of the officer of the customs in Fife as a fair
and honourable reprisal. Hitherto I had observed a certain line in my
criminality, and stood free of assaults upon personal property, but now I felt a
wild pleasure in disgracing myself as much as possible.
    The plunder was no object to me. I abandoned that to my comrades, and only
asked the