Memoirs Of Joseph Grimaldi

190 JfEMOIES OF JOSEPH GBIMALDI.

" Mr. G-rimaldi," replied the man, with great apparent humi-
lity, " they would not come if they were sent for; and besides,
if they did, it would injure, not assist me, for they are all
marked men."

"Marked men!" exclaimed Grimaldi.

"Too true, sir," said Mackintosh; "desperate characters
every one."

" What! Farmer ?"

" He was sentenced to death at the Old Bailey, and got a
reprieve while standing on the drop beneath the gallows."

"And Williams?"

"Williams is a forger of notes."

" And Jesson ?"

"He and Barber are both burglars."

" And the Jewish-looking man,—I forget the rascal's name,—
the man who sings Kelly's songs; what is he ?"

" Oh, he helps to pass the forged notes, and has been three
times in the pillory."

" There is one other man whom I have not named—thatfel-
low Jones; what is he ? a murderer ?"

"No, sir, only a burglar," answered Mackintosh. "Don't
you recollect, Mr. Glrimaldi, that he would not join the party to
Woolwich?"

" Perfectly well."

" Well, sir, the truth is, he left town for Cheshire the same
day the party was proposed, and he is the man who actually
committed the deed I am charged with. He did the robbery.
I found it out only to-day; but, though I know it, I can't prove
it now:—and all those people in Charlotte-street are doing their
best to get me found guilty, and save the real man, who is better
liked among them than I am."

The enumeration of all these crimes, the reflection of having
been intimately associated with such wretches, and the fear of
having his innocence confounded with their guilt, quite over-s is not the time for secrecy and falsehood, nor