It happened one day, as I sat under a hedge crying, having spent my last farthing, that a comfortable-looking elderly woman came up in a cart, and seeing the state in which I was, she stopped and asked what was the matter with me.

I told her some part of my story, whereupon she said, 'Cheer up, my dear: if you like, you shall go with me, and wait upon me.' Of course I wanted little persuasion, so I got into the cart and went with her.

She took me to London and various other places, and I soon found that she was a travelling woman, who went about the country with silks and linen.

I was of great use to her, more especially in those places where we met evil company.

Once, as we were coming from Dover, we were met by two sailors, who stopped our cart, and would have robbed and stripped us.