The King of The Beggars

THE SURPRISING ADVENTURES OF BAMPFYLDE-MOORE CAREW, KING OF THE BEGGARS

PREFACE.

THE many incorrect and inelegant editions which have been obtruded on the public have induced the present Proprietors to undertake a more complete history of this celebrated man.—Various are the ways by which the human mind endeavours to mount the ladder of fame, and an equal ability is displayed by the monarch robed and his humble subject in tatters.—Peter Pindar says truly,

Condition, circumstance, is not the thing—

Bliss is the same in subject as in king,—

And if we change but little the sentiment, we shall have a perfect picture of the conditions of mankind. Had fate ordained the present royal family to humble life, or to till the soil, they might have shone as honest farmers, and been as much celebrated for the acres they had tilled, as the revenues they have spent.—If parallels may be drawn between great and little characters, the monarchs of the universe are little more than so many Carews, who, under the idea of state necessity, beg of their subjects. Now, supposing the superior abilities of Mr. Carew had arisen to their proper elevation, he might have proved an able negotiator ; and, possessed of great diplomatic address, would doubtless have succeeded by stratagem and finesse in whatever he undertook ; but he chose to be a prince in the little world, and this was much superior to occupying a humble post in the great world.—If it be objected that his practice was mean and beggarly, this may particularly affect his superiors, who are looking up to places and pensions, and would sacrifice the interest of the country to batten upon the national loaves and fishes.—Mr. Carew can never be viewed in any other point than as an active solicitor, and in this respect he outstripped the most eminent lawyers, for he was always thankful for what he received. If charity be the readiest path to bliss, and of this there can be no doubt, Mr. Carew may claim much on this head, since he set a great deal of this amiable principle on foot, and often made his occupation the means of punishing the cold and flinty hearted.—Seriously, however, we hold him up as a character more remarkable for eccentricity than worthy of imitation.

THE EDITOR.

Chapter I

His Early Life; Joining the Gypsies

Mr. Bampfylde-Moore Carew was descended from the ancient family of the Carews, son of the Reverend Mr. Theodore Carew, of the parish of Brickley, near Tiverton, in the county of Devon; of which parish he was many years a rector, very much esteemed while living, and at his death universally lamented. Mr. Carew was born in the month of July 1693; and never was there known a more splendid attendance of ladies and gentlemen of the first rank and quality at any baptism in the west of England, than at his: the Hon. Hugh Bampfylde, Esq., who afterwards died of an unfortunate fall from his horse, and the Hon. Major Moore, were both his illustrious godfathers, both of whose names he bears; who sometime contending who should be the president, doubtless presaging the honour that should redound to them from the future actions of our hero, the affair was determined by throwing up a piece of money, which was won by Mr. Bampfylde; who upon this account presented a large piece of plate, whereon was engraved, in large letters,

BAMPFYLDE-MOORE CAREW.

The reverend Mr. Carew had several other children, both sons and daughters, besides Mr. Carew, all of whom he educated in a tender and pious manner; and Mr. Carew was at the age of twelve sent to Tiverton school, where he contracted an intimate acquaintance with some young gentlemen of the first rank in Somersetshire, Devonshire, Cornwall, and Dorsetshire.

It has been remarked by great men, that there is a natural propensity in the mind of a reader to be inquisitive about the person of the hero whose actions they are reading; and authors in general have been so sensible of the power of this curiosity, that it has long been a custom for them to present their readers with their own pictures in the front of their works, with the design, doubtless, of pre possessing their readers in favour of them, by the marks of wisdom and ingenuity in their countenance ; thus, not to mention any other instances, those two great authors, Mr. Dilworth and Mr. Dyche, have both indulged the work with their pictures before their ingenious spelling books. We cannot but commend this custom as a very fair and candid one; for what reader would buy an author, if his countenance declared him a blockhead, did we not suspect the engraver is so kind to the author as to put greater marks of wisdom and ingenuity in his countenance, than nature ever bestowed upon him.