CHAPTER I.
The Widow and her Child.
On the night of Friday, the 26th of November, 1703, and at the hour of eleven, the door of a miserable habitation, situated in an obscure quarter of the Borough of Southwark, known as the Old Mint, was opened; and a man, with a lantern in his hand, appeared at the threshold.

This person, whose age might be about forty, was attired in a brown double-breasted frieze coat, with very wide skirts, and a very narrow collar; a light drugget waistcoat, with pockets reaching to the knees; black plush breeches; grey worsted hose; and shoes with round toes, wooden heels, and high quarters, fastened by small silver buckles.

He wore a three-cornered hat, a sandy-coloured scratch wig, and had a thick woollen wrapper folded round his throat.

His clothes had evidently seen some service, and were plentifully begrimed with the dust of the workshop.

Still he had a decent look, and decidedly the air of one well-to-do in the world.