The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders

To bring the story short, we agreed to go. He told me that he had a

very good house there, that it was well furnished, that his mother was

alive and lived in it, and one sister, which was all the relations he

had; that as soon as he came there, his mother would remove to another

house, which was her own for life, and his after her decease; so that I

should have all the house to myself; and I found all this to be exactly

as he had said.

To make this part of the story short, we put on board the ship which we

went in, a large quantity of good furniture for our house, with stores

of linen and other necessaries, and a good cargo for sale, and away we

went.

To give an account of the manner of our voyage, which was long and full

of dangers, is out of my way; I kept no journal, neither did my

husband. All that I can say is, that after a terrible passage,

frighted twice with dreadful storms, and once with what was still more

terrible, I mean a pirate who came on board and took away almost all

our provisions; and which would have been beyond all to me, they had

once taken my husband to go along with them, but by entreaties were

prevailed with to leave him;--I say, after all these terrible things,

we arrived in York River in Virginia, and coming to our plantation, we

were received with all the demonstrations of tenderness and affection,

by my husband's mother, that were possible to be expressed.

We lived here all together, my mother-in-law, at my entreaty,

continuing in the house, for she was too kind a mother to be parted

with; my husband likewise continued the same as at first, and I thought

myself the happiest creature alive, when an odd and surprising event

put an end to all that felicity in a moment, and rendered my condition

the most uncomfortable, if not the most miserable, in the world.

My mother was a mighty cheerful, good-humoured old woman --I may call

her old woman, for her son was above thirty; I say she was very

pleasant, good company, and used to entertain me, in particular, with

abundance of stories to divert me, as well of the country we were in

as of the people.

Among the rest, she often told me how the greatest part of the

inhabitants of the colony came thither in very indifferent

circumstances from England; that, generally speaking, they were of two

sorts; either, first, such as were brought over by masters of ships to

be sold as servants. 'Such as we call them, my dear,' says she, 'but

they are more properly called slaves.' Or, secondly, such as are

transported from Newgate and other prisons, after having been found

guilty of felony and other crimes punishable with death.