any pence, and conveyed to the bailiff's house,
in which he continued a whole fortnight, moving his lodgings higher and
higher, from time to time, in proportion to the decay of his credit;
until, from the parlour, he had made a regular ascent to the garret.
There, while he ruminated on his next step, which would have been to the
Marshalsea, and saw the night come on, attended with hunger and cold,
the wind began to blow, and the tiles of the house rattled with the
storm. His imagination was immediately struck with the idea of escaping
unperceived, amidst the darkness and noise of the tempest, by creeping
out of the window of his apartment, and making his way over the tops
of the adjoining houses. Glowing with this prospect, he examined the
passage, which, to his infinite mortification, he found grated with iron
bars on the outside; but even this difficulty did not divert him from
his purpose. Conscious of his own strength, he believed himself able to
make a hole through the roof, which seemed to be slender and crazy; and,
on this supposition, he barricaded the door with the whole furniture of
the room; then setting himself to work with a poker, he in a few minutes
effected a passage for his hand, with which he gradually stripped off
the boards and tiling, so as to open a sallyport for his whole body,
through which he fairly set himself free, groping his way towards the
next tenement. Here, however, he met with an unlucky accident. His hat
being blown off his head, chanced to fall into the court just as one
of the bailiff's followers was knocking at the door; and this myrmidon,
recognizing it, immediately gave the alarm to his chief, who,
running up-stairs to the garret, forced open the door in a twinkling,
notwithstanding the precautions which the prisoner had taken, and, with
his attendant, pursued the fugitive through his own track. "After this
chase had continued some time," said the officer, "to the imminent
danger of all three, I found my progress suddenly stopped by a skylight,
through which I perceived seven tailors sitting at work upon a board.
Without the least hesitation, or previous notice, I plunged among them
with my backside foremost. Before they could recollect themselves from
the consternation occasioned by such a strange visit, I told them my
situation, and gave them to understand that there was no time to be
lost. One of the number, taking the hint, led me instantly down-stairs,
and dismissed me at the s