"Having travelled on foot a good way, in hope of finding a
convenience, and being not only disappointed in that particular,
but also bewildered in my peregrination, I began to be exceedingly
alarmed with the apprehension of being met by some person who might
know me; because in that case, my design would undoubtedly have
been discovered, from every circumstance of my appearance at that
time of day; for I had put on the very clothes which I had pulled
off overnight, so that my dress was altogether odd and peculiar.
My shoes were very fine, and over a large hoop I wore a pink satin
quilted petticoat trimmed with silver, which was partly covered by
a white dimity night-gown, a full quarter of a yard too short; my
handkerchief and apron were hurried on without pinning; my nightcap
could not contain my hair, which hung about my ears in great
disorder; and my countenance denoted a mixture of hope and fear,
joy and shame.
"In this dilemma, I made my addresses to that honourable member
of society, a shoe-black, whom I earnestly entreated to provide me
with a coach or chair, promising to reward him liberally for his
trouble, but he, having the misfortune to be lame, was unable to
keep up with my pace; so that by his advice and direction, I went
into the first public-house I found open, where I stayed some
time, in the utmost consternation, among a crew of wretches whom I
thought proper to bribe for their civility, not without the terror
of being stripped.
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