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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Memoirs of
James Hardy Vaux. Written by himself
 This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United
States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away
or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License
included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you
are not located in the United States, you will have to check the
laws of the country where you are located before using this
eBook.

Title: Memoirs of James Hardy Vaux. Written by himself

Author: James Hardy Vaux

Release date: March 17, 2024 [eBook #73187]

Language: English

Original publication: London: W Clowes, 1819

Credits: MWS and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at

https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from
images made available by the HathiTrust Digital
Library.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MEMOIRS

OF JAMES HARDY VAUX. WRITTEN BY HIMSELF ***
Transcriber’s Note: This ebook contains both volumes: Volume I and Volume II.

MEMOIRS OF JAMES HARDY

VAUX.
IN TWO VOLUMES. VOLUME I.

MEMOIRS
OF
JAMES HARDY VAUX.

WRITTEN BY HIMSELF.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

LONDON:
PRINTED BY W. CLOWES, NORTHUMBERLAND-COURT, STRAND.
 AND SOLD BY
ALL RESPECTABLE BOOKSELLERS.
1819.
 CONTENTS
OF

THE FIRST VOLUME.

Advertisement, page vii.

Preface, page xi.
Dedication, page xv.
CHAPTER I.
Some account of my family—My birth, and subsequent adventures,
until I attain my ninth year, page 1.
CHAP. II.
I am taken from school, and return to my Grandparents—Remove
to Cambridgeshire—From thence again to London, and a
second time to S⸺shire—Different plans proposed for my
settlement in life—Friendship of the Moultrie family—I am sent
to Liverpool on liking, page 9.
CHAP. III.
My employment in my new situation—Seduced by an apprentice in
the house to neglect my business, and keep irregular hours—
Become a frequenter of the Cockpit—Repeated losses at this
place induce me to recruit my finances by embezzling my
employer’s money—Remonstrances on my misconduct
producing no effect, am seriously admonished, and sent back
to my friends, page 16.
CHAP. IV.
I prevail on my grandfather to let me visit London—Am provided
with letters of recommendation—Received into the office of a
respectable attorney, my kinsman—Quit that employment, and
engage with a wholesale stationer—Obtain clothes, &c., on
 credit, without any intention of paying for them—Bilk my
lodgings repeatedly—Return to the law—Obliged to live by my
wits—Become a hackney waiter—Resort nightly to the Blue-
Lion, page 24.
CHAP. V.
The trip to Portsmouth, page 32.
CHAP. VI.
Still much embarrassed to support appearances—Meet with a
surgeon of a frigate—Our conversation and its result—
Negotiation set on foot with the captain—I obtain an
appointment as midshipman—Fitted out by my friends in the
most liberal manner—Join my ship—Delighted with my new
situation—Account of my messmates, and other matters, page
53.
CHAP. VII.
My rapid progress in navigation—Become a good sailor in theory—
The approach of a severe winter somewhat damps my
pleasure—Begin to repent my bargain—Duty excessively
fatiguing, and situation uncomfortable—Advised to alter my
course—Appointed captain’s clerk, and find myself at home to
a peg—The frigate ordered up the river Thames—I visit
London—Become enamoured of a fair Cyprian—Desert my
ship on her account, page 63.
CHAP. VIII.
Consequences of my imprudent secession—Reduced to great
distress—Become a billiard player—Associate with sharpers—
Engage with a country attorney—Take leave of London once
more, page 74.
CHAP. IX.
Account of my situation at Bury St. Edmunds—Obstinately
determine to relinquish it, and return to London—Defraud
several tradesmen—Quit the town, and arrive in the metropolis
 —Obtain a quantity of wearing apparel under false pretences,
page 91.
CHAP. X.
Live gaily for a few weeks on the spoils of my late excursion—
Again obliged to seek employment—Engage with a
conveyancer in the Temple—Apprehended by my late master
—Compromise the affair, through the friendship of a relation,
page 103.
CHAP. XI.
Obtain an employment as clerk and shopman—Rob my employers,
and embezzle several sums of money—Quit this service, and
am soon after taken in custody, and committed to the Bastile,
page 112.
CHAP. XII.
Fully committed for trial—Acquitted for want of evidence—Fatal
consequences of consigning a young person to a gaol—Meet
with a fellow-prisoner, who introduces me to the company of
professed thieves—Live by fraud and robbery—Trip to Staines
—Am at length apprehended for what I am innocent of, page
128.
CHAP. XIII.
Examined before the Lord Mayor—Fully committed—Tried and cast
—My father’s faith and assurances—My disappointment on
being transported for seven years—Contract the gaol
distemper, and am reduced to the point of death—Recover my
health, and am sent on board a transport for Botany Bay, page
155.
CHAP. XIV.
Sail from England—Account of our voyage—Arrive at Port Jackson
—Write in my own behalf to Commissary Palmer—That
gentleman is pleased to notice my application—Land at
Sydney, and am carried before Governor King—A curious
 dialogue between His Excellency and myself—Ordered to
Hawkesbury, as Store-keeper’s Clerk, page 168.
CHAP. XV.
My conduct at Hawkesbury—Continue for three years to give
satisfaction to my principal—Ordered by Governor King into
the Secretary’s Office—Give way to the temptations with which
I am surrounded, and begin to lead a dissipated life, in
company with some other clerks.—Concert a system of fraud
upon the King’s stores, which we practise successfully for
some time—The imposition is at length detected—I am in
consequence dismissed the office, and sent to hard labour for
the first time in my life, page 176.
CHAP. XVI.
Draughted to Castle-hill—Variously employed there—Appointed
clerk to the Settlement—Again noticed by the Governor—
Summoned to Parramatta by the Rev. Mr. Marsden—
Appointed Magistrate’s Clerk, and begin once more to lead an
easy life—Preparations for the Governor’s departure—Mr.
Marsden gives me hopes of accompanying himself and the
Governor to England in His Majesty’s Ship Buffalo—My
pleasing sensations at the prospect of revisiting my native
land, page 186.
CHAP. XVII.
The Buffalo being ready for sea, I receive an intimation from Mr.
Marsden, that the late Governor obtained a remission of my
unexpired time, and consents to take me home as his clerk—I
wait on his Excellency accordingly, and receive orders to go on
board—We set sail, page 194.
CHAP. XVIII.
Receive a free pardon from the hands of Captain (late Governor)
King—Account of our passage home—Suffer a great deal from
the want of provisions—Leaky state of the ship—Double Cape
Horn—Fall in with an English frigate, bound to the river Plate—
Arrive at Rio de Janeiro, page 199.
 CHAP. XIX.
Account of my adventures at San Sebastian—Form acquaintance
with a Portuguese family—Their affection for me—Overtures
made to induce my stay in South America—The ship being
repaired and victualled, we re-imbark and sail for Europe, page
209.
CHAP. XX.
The ship becomes as leaky as before—All hands in turn at the
pumps—Means adopted to reduce the leaks—I offend the late
Governor, who orders me before the mast—Fall in with the
Thisbe a second time in company with several transports—
Unhappy fate of one of them—Arrive at Spithead, page 225.
CHAP. XXI.
Captain King leaves the ship, which proceeds to Portsmouth
harbour—My melancholy reflections on my confinement to the
service—Preparations for paying off the Buffalo—Employed by
the Purser in arranging the ships’ books—Write to London, and
receive an answer from my mother—Obtain leave to go ashore
very unexpectedly, and effect my escape through the friendly
aid of a total stranger, page 237.
 ADVERTISEMENT.
It has been thought that the Public would benefit in more ways
than one, by the publication of a work, in which the philosopher may
read the workings of an unprincipled conscience, the legislator be let
into the operations of the laws upon the criminal’s mind, and the
citizen derive a key to the frauds by which he is so easily and
constantly beset; and it is not often that thieves are possessed of
sufficient truth, memory, vanity, and literature, to tell the story of their
own lives. It will be seen that Mr. Vaux, together with an excellent
memory, possesses a good share of vanity, and sufficient literature.
In the following pages, the former (I think) often magnifies the latter,
particularly in the account of the author’s readership at the printing-
office; but it is only justice to him to say, that I have found occasion to
make very few alterations in his manuscript, which came to my
hands ready prefaced and dedicated, and chaptered, as if ripe for his
old master’s printing-office—that it was exceedingly well and fairly
transcribed; and, (with one or two exceptions) correctly spelled and
punctuated.
When Mr. Vaux’s predilection for low company comes to be
observed, the reader will justly doubt the great liberality of education
and taste for reading, upon which he so often vaunts himself. The
quotations in his narrative are all common-place; and I have struck
out a few as profaned by misapplication.
As for the truth of the following tale—nobody can vouch for it. I am
afraid it is occasionally sacrificed at the shrine of Vanity, who seems
to be the author’s patron-saint. He is fonder of confessing himself
guilty of frauds, from the punishment of which he escaped, than of
those in which he was found out; detection (he thinks) impeaches his
cunning; and though he recounts with exultation the theft for which
he is now transported for life, that is, because he knows it was
committed under protection of, perhaps, the most consummate
address and assurance ever exhibited by man—it amounted to the
sublime of impudence—and, after all, he was only betrayed into the
hands of justice, who, if she had a hundred eyes, would not (it
should seem) have enough to detect the dissimulations of James
Hardy Vaux. The reader will observe, that he denies his guilt of the
crime for which he was before transported, because it was a
common, clumsy partnership picking a handkerchief out of the
pocket; and so, too, he denies any confederacy with the Judge
Advocate’s servant, in robbing his master’s writing-desk, for which
offence he was further transported to Newcastle, in this territory,
whither he now again is sent for life, for an attempt to escape from
the country altogether. The reader must, therefore, believe as much
or as little as he pleases of the following story. Of him who confesses
himself a liar, the voice must necessarily be listened to with distrust.

“Look to him well; have a quick eye to see;

He has deceiv’d another, and may thee.”

By the laws of all nations, he who is once detected in perjury, is not

allowed to bear further witness—the testimony of a king’s evidence
must be corroborated—and the confession of a felon is never
allowed to prove any thing against another person.
With this caveat lector, I dismiss this entertaining and instructive
narrative; for so I will call it, thinking it as full of cunning and
adventure as “The Life of Guzman de Alfarache—the Spanish
Rogue,” if not so profoundly moralized. The religion, indeed, (if it can
be so called) of Mr. Vaux is, like that of most convicts, a low sort of
fatalism, which may be called a fatalism after the fact. The followers
of this sect do not connect predestination with “foreknowledge
absolute,” but merely comfort themselves with the truism, that when
their misfortunes have happened, nothing can prevent them from
having happened. Of “free will,” they first suffer the time for the
exercise to go by, and then complain of the impotency,—abandoning
themselves with an insensibility, which they mistake for resignation,
to what they call the predestined and inevitable decrees of “fixed
fate[1].” Some of this false complaining has been expunged from the
following work; but enough (I am afraid) is left to shew the delusion.
 It remains only to be added, that the pecuniary profits of this
publication will be applied to the relief of the author, in his perpetual
banishment.
B. F—D.
Sydney, New South Wales, 18th May, 1817.
 PREFACE.
Before I commence this narrative of a life marked with more than
common vicissitudes, I beg to bespeak the reader’s attention to a
few cursory remarks. I must first premise that I have undertaken the
task, in obedience to the commands of a gentleman, who is pleased
to anticipate a sufficient fund of entertainment in the perusal, to
compensate for the honour he confers in noticing an outcast of
Fortune like myself; who, partly from my own vicious conduct, and
partly (perhaps,) from the malignity of my fate, have forfeited all hope
of attaining that respectable rank in society, to which, in the happy
days of youthful innocence, I had every reason to look forward with
confidence.
But now, alas! although I have too late seen my errors, and my
intentions are strictly virtuous, I have nothing to expect, but to
continue through the remainder of this transitory life, such as I am at
the present moment,—an unhappy exile, for ever banished from my
country and relations, and rendered incapable of making the
smallest reparation to the community I have injured, by the exercise
of those talents which nature has bestowed, and the best of friends
have so liberally cultivated. Nor do I fear being accused of vanity, in
asserting, that they are above mediocrity, since it is not to myself I
am indebted for them; and the greater infamy attaches to me for their
perversion,—for where much is given much is required.
To return to the remark I set out with: these sheets not being
intended at first for the press, or to meet the public eye, I have not
laboured their composition. Indeed, the work being executed in
haste, and under many local disadvantages, I have had little time for
study, and can only boast of a scrupulous attention to truth, to which
I have been enjoined by my employer.
Where my conduct has been such as I now blush at, I have
“nothing extenuated;” nor have I, on the other hand, used the
smallest embellishments to advance myself in the good opinion of
my readers. With me, in all human probability, the die is cast; and as
the prejudices of those persons, who alone can extricate me from
misery, are not likely to be removed by any professions of
amendment I can make, my only hopes of happiness are centred in
a better world, where we are instructed that there is much joy over
one single repentant sinner.
James Hardy Vaux.
Newcastle, New South Wales, 17th September, 1815.
 DEDICATION.
To THOMAS THOMPSON, Esq.,
(Captain in His Majesty’s 46th regiment), Commandant of
Newcastle, in the Colony of New South Wales, and one of His
Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for that Territory.
Sir,
Having, in obedience to your commands, completed the following
narrative of my adventures I should deem myself wanting in
gratitude, were I to omit offering, at the same time that I respectfully
submit my production to your perusal, the humble tribute of my
thanks, for the many favours I have received at your hands; for the
indulgent treatment I have generally experienced; and more
particularly for the distinguished honour you have conferred on so
unworthy an object as myself, in condescending to feel an interest in
the occurrences of my former life, and in permitting me to inscribe to
you, the following Memoirs of it.
I beg to assure you, Sir, that, however Fate or Fortune may
hereafter dispose of me, the remembrance of your goodness will
never be effaced from my mind; and that in the event of my past
sufferings inducing you to use your bountiful influence in my behalf,
and to procure me once more the probable means of attaining a
respectable rank in society, my future conduct shall be such, as to
prove that you have not erred in believing me radically reformed, and
deserving the honour of your patronage.
In the sincere hope that these sheets will contribute to your
entertainment, and that of such friends as you may be pleased to
communicate them to,
I have the honour to subscribe myself,
with the most dutiful respect,
Sir,
 your obliged and grateful humble servant,
JAMES H. VAUX.
Newcastle, 30th March 1816.
 MEMOIRS
OF
JAMES HARDY VAUX.
 CHAPTER I.
Some Account of my Family.—My Birth and subsequent Adventures until I attained
my ninth Year.

It may be expected that, like other biographers, I should give some

account of my ancestors. This I can but imperfectly do; for the
volatility of my disposition, and the early age at which I left my
friends, prevented me from ever making pointed inquiries on the
subject. Family pride I have ever considered as the most ridiculous
of all human weaknesses. However, as I am writing facts, be it
known, that my progenitors, by the mother’s side, were of no mean
rank; my great-great-grandmother, Dorothy, the daughter of Sir
Thomas Hartopp, Bart. of Ragby, or Ragley Castle, in ⸺shire, was
united, after a long and romantic courtship, to a gentleman named
Yonge, and from this union sprang a very respectable family, the
Yonges of ⸺shire, who are still of some consequence in that
county. This scrap of genealogy I should probably have been
unacquainted with, but for the circumstance of two original love-
letters, interchanged between the parties above-mentioned, during
the period of their courtship, and still preserved in the family as
antiques. These epistles are written in the most pathetic strain, and,
allowing for the age in which they were composed, abound in
elegant diction. My grandmother, Dorothy Yonge, married Mr. Lowe,
a respectable attorney of the court of King’s-Bench, who for many
years filled the office of clerk to the warden of the Fleet, and had,
besides, a very extensive private practice. The only issue of this
marriage was my mother, who was brought up with the most
affectionate tenderness, and well educated. By what means she
became acquainted with my father, who was from a very distant
county, I never learnt; but she was united to him in the year 1781,
and, as I have reason to think, against the advice and will of her
parents, my father being of a family much less respectable, and, at
the time of his marriage, in no higher situation than that of butler and