history. No,
I would not write the history of Abershaw. Whose then--Harry Simms?
Alas, the life of Harry Simms had been already much better written by
himself than I could hope to do it; and, after all, Harry Simms, like
Jemmy Abershaw, was merely a robber. Both, though bold and extraordinary
men, were merely highwaymen. I questioned whether I could compose a tale
likely to excite any particular interest out of the exploits of a mere
robber. I want a character for my hero, thought I, something higher than
a mere robber; some one like--like Colonel B---. By the way, why should
I not write the life and adventures of Colonel B---, of Londonderry in
Ireland?

A truly singular man was this same Colonel B---, of Londonderry in
Ireland; a personage of most strange and incredible feats and daring, who
had been a partizan soldier, a bravo--who, assisted by certain
discontented troopers, nearly succeeded in stealing the crown and regalia
from the Tower of London; who attempted to hang the Duke of Ormond at
Tyburn; and whose strange, eventful career did not terminate even with
his life, his dead body, on the circulation of an unfounded report that
he did not come to his death by fair means, having been exhumed by the
mob of his native place, where he had retired to die, and carried in the
coffin through the streets.

Of his life I had inserted an account in the _Newgate Lives and Trials_;
it was bare and meagre, and written in the stiff, awkward style of the
seventeenth century; it had, however, strongly captivated my imagination,
and I now thought that out of it something better could be made; that, if
I added to the adventures, and purified the style, I might fashion out of
it a very decent tale or novel. On a sudden, however, the proverb of
mending old garments with new cloth occurred to me. 'I am afraid,' said
I, 'any new adventures which I can invent will not fadge well with the
old tale; one will but spoil the other.' I had better have nothing to do
with Colonel B---, thought I, but boldly and independently sit down and
write the life of Joseph Sell.

This Joseph Sell, dear reader, was a fictitious personage who had just
come into my head. I had never even heard of the name, but just at that
moment it happened to come into my head; I would write an entirely
fictitious narrative, called the _Life and Adventures of Joseph Sell_,
the great traveller.

I had better begin at once, thought I; and removing the bread a