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BY THE AUTHOR OF "NED CLINTON," "JOE OXFORD," &c. &c.

"How, when competitors like these contend,
Can surly virtue hope to fix a friend?"

LONDON:

W. STRANGE, 21, PATERNOSTER ROW,

AND ALL BOOKSELLERS IN THE KINGDOM.

1838.

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COLE AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS, CRANE Court, FLEET STREET.

MEMOIRS

OF

ANDREW WINPENNY,

COUNT DE DEUX SOUS.

CHAPTER I..

"By education most have been misled,
So they believe because they so were bred;
The priest continues what the nurse began,
And thus the child imposes on the man!"

66

THE sceptic says, man does every thing by custom:" he affirms, too, that honesty, dishonesty, justice and injustice, are but names, attached by us to certain actions, according to the education we have received.

Education and custom, most assuredly, hold dominion over man; if they did not, how could it happen that a deed which in one country is denounced as being criminal, in another state brings commendation and pecuniary reward to the individual who has perpetrated it? For example, in the Spartan and some others of the states of olden times, theft, when ably achieved, was considered so highly meritorious and honourable, that he who (like the brave Spartan youth, whose bowels were torn out by the stolen fox he held under his frock) died perseveringly denying a robbery by him committed, was considered as having been a hero, not only meriting the admiration of his own time, but also worthy of having his fame transmitted down to posterity by the ablest historians among his applauding countrymen.

In modern times, throughout all countries, the successful robber is applauded for his masterly conduct. Yea! he is rewarded with the proudest distinctions. In fine, robbery leads to great wealth, and, under monarchical governments, overgrown wealth ensures aristocratic rank to its possessor, which with management is made to yield him and his posterity a perpetuity of power and place, at the suffering people's expense.

To illustrate this fact, scrutinize into the long list of aristocratic titles. There it will be found, that, with few exceptions, these honours have been granted to the spurious issue of royalty, and to

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