Page:The London Guide and Stranger's Safeguard.djvu/92

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CHILD-BEARING CHEAT.

of the charge, the accused gentleman complied with the demand of giving what money he had about him; but immediately after was advised to prosecute, which he did most effectually, for Nancy was hanged at the Old Bailey.

Women of the town will walk up to one whom they think they can easily astonish, with their stays stuffed out with rags (perhaps), and reminding him of certain foolish familiarities, in which he has indulged, persuade him by all the tokens in her power, that he is the father of the child of which she is now pregnant. [An indisputable fact.] Here she enlarges her tale pitifully, with an allusion to her helpless state and want of money; next touching upon the hardness of parish officers, and that with a little assistance she shall be able to lie-in without applying to them, or swearing the child, which she hopes may die! and herself too. Asks him whether he would advise her to get relieved at the advertised lying-in houses—such as the "Blue Lamp" in Loudon House-yard;—or, deeper still, she invites him to procure abortion medicines: should he consent, he is a ruined man. A noble lord (T——d) was safely robbed in this way so lately as this winter, 1817.

After using these topics, she asks directly for