nishment of my crimes,
prescribed by the Law of God and my country. I know it is the
constant custom that those who come to this place should have
speeches made for them, and cried about in their own hearing as they
are carried to execution; and truly they are such speeches that
although our fraternity be an ignorant illiterate people, they would
make a man ashamed to have such nonsense and false English charged
upon him, even when he is going to the gallows. They contain a
pretended account of our birth and family, of the facts for which we
are to die, of our sincere repentance, and a declaration of our
religion. I cannot expect to avoid the same treatment with my
predecessors. However, having an education one or two degrees better
than those of my rank and profession, ever since my commitment I
have been considering what might be proper for me to deliver upon
this occasion.

And first, I cannot say from the bottom of my heart that I am truly
sorry for the offence I have given to God and the world; but I am
very much so for the bad success of my villainies, in bringing me to
this untimely end; for it is plainly evident, that after having some
time ago obtained a pardon from the Crown, I again took up my old
trade. My evil habits were so rooted in me, and I was grown unfit
for any other kind of employment; and therefore, although in
compliance with my friends I resolved to go to the gallows after the
usual manner, kneeling with a book in my hand and my eyes lift up,
yet I shall feel no more devotion in my heart than I observed in
some of my comrades, who have been drunk among common whores the
very night before their execution. I can say further from my own
knowledge, that two of my own fraternity, after they had been hanged
and wonderfully came to life, and made their escapes, as it
sometimes happens, proved afterwards the wickedest rogues I ever
knew, and so continued until they were hanged again for good and
all; and yet they had the impudence at both times they went up to
the gallows to smite their breasts and lift up their eyes to Heaven
all the way.

Secondly, from the knowledge I have of my own wicked dispositon, and
that of my comrades, I give it as my opinion that nothing can be
more unfortunate to the public than the mercy of Government in even
pardoning and tran