her General of Great Britain and Ireland, and proceeded to
send to the gallows every scoundrel that dared dispute his position.

His opportunities of gain were infinite. Even if he did not organise
the robbery which his cunning was presently to discover, he had spies in
every hole and corner to set him on the felon's track. Nor did he leave
a single enterprise to chance: 'He divided the city and suburbs into
wards or divisions, and appointed the persons who were to attend each
ward, and kept them strictly to their duty.' If a subordinate dared
to disobey or to shrink from murder, Jonathan hanged him at the next
assize, and happily for him he had not a single confederate whose neck
he might not put in the halter when he chose. Thus he preserved the
union and the fidelity of his gang, punishing by judicial murder the
smallest insubordination, the faintest suspicion of rivalry. Even when
he had shut his victim up in Newgate, he did not leave him so long as
there was a chance of blackmail. He would make the most generous offers
of evidence and defence to every thief that had a stiver left him.
But whether or not he kept his bargain--that depended upon policy and
inclination. On one occasion, when he had brought a friend to the Old
Bailey, and relented at the last moment, he kept the prosecutor drunk
from the noble motive of self-interest, until the case was over. And so
esteemed was he of the officers of the law that even this interference
did but procure a reprimand.

His meanest action marked him out from his fellows, but it was not until
he habitually pillaged the treasures he afterwards restored to their
grateful owners for a handsome consideration, that his art reached the
highest point of excellence. The event was managed by him with amazing
adroitness from beginning to end.

It was he who discovered the wealth and habit of the victim; it was he
who posted the thief and seized the plunder, giving a paltry commission
to his hirelings for the trouble; it was he who kept whatever valuables
were lost in the transaction; and as he was the servant of the Court,
discovery or inconvenience was impossible. Surely the Machiavel of
Thieves is justified of his title. He was known to all the rich and
titled folk in town; and if he was generally able to give them back
their stolen valuables at something more than double their value, he
treated his clients with a most proper insolence. When Lady M--n was
unlucky enough to lose a s