.' And
his aunt she remained unto the end, bound to him in a proper and natural
alliance. Different as they were in aspect, they were strangely alike
in taste and disposition. Nor was the Paris Garden their only
meeting-ground.

His sorry sojourn in Gray's Inn had thrown him on the side of the
law-breaker, and he had acquired a strange cunning in the difficult art
of evading justice. Instantly Moll recognised his practical value, and,
exerting all her talent for intrigue, presently secured for him the
Clerkship of Newgate. Here at last he found scope not only for his
learning, but for that spirit of adventure that breathed within him. His
meagre acquaintance with letters placed him on a pinnacle high above his
colleagues. Now and then a prisoner proved his equal in wit, but as he
was manifestly superior in intelligence to the Governor, the Ordinary,
and all the warders, he speedily seized and hereafter retained the real
sovereignty of Newgate.

His early progress was barred by envy and contempt. Why, asked the men
in possession, should this shrivelled stranger filch our privileges? And
Briscoe met their malice with an easy smile, knowing that at all points
he was more than their match. His alliance with Moll stood him in
good stead, and in a few months the twain were the supreme arbiters
of English justice. Should a highwayman seek to save his neck, he must
first pay a fat indemnity to the Newgate Clerk, but, since Moll was the
appointed banker of the whole family, she was quick to sanction whatever
price her accomplice suggested. And Briscoe had a hundred other tricks
whereby he increased his riches and repute. There was no debtor came
to Newgate whom the Clerk would not aid, if he believed the kindness
profitable. Suppose his inquiries gave an assurance of his victim's
recovery, he would house him comfortably, feed him at his own table,
lend him money, and even condescend to win back the generous loan by the
dice-box.

His civility gave him a general popularity among the prisoners, and his
appearance in the Yard was a signal for a subdued hilarity. He drank
and gambled with the roysterers; he babbled a cheap philosophy with the
erudite; and he sold the necks of all to the highest bidder. Though now
and again he was convicted of mercy or revenge, he commonly held himself
aloof from human passions, and pursued the one sane end of life in an
easy security. The hostility of his colleagues irked him but little.
A few t