Graves, or by accidental Calamities rendered incapable of supporting it longer. Accordingly, when the Father and Mother of Hannah died, Hannah came up to London, and arrived in Town on Christmas-Day, 1740, and resided for some Time, with her Sister in Wapping.

Some Time after she came to London, she contracted an Acquaintance with one James Summs, a Sailor, who was a Dutchman; this Acquaintance was gradually improved into a Familiarity, and this Familiarity soon created a mutual, tho’ not a criminal Passion; for in a little Time, Summs made his Addresses to her as a Lover, and gained her Consent, and was married to her at the Fleet, on the sixth Day of January, 1743-4. But all his Promises of Friendship, proved Instances of the highest Perfidy, and he turn’d out the worst and most unnatural of Husbands. Since, tho’ she had Charms enough to captivate the Heart, and secure the Affection of any reasonable Man, yet she was despised and contemned by her Husband, who not only kept criminal Company with other Women of the basest Characters, but also made away with her Things, in Order to support his Luxury, and the daily Expences of his Whores. During this unlucky Period of the Husband’s Debauchery, she poor Woman proved with Child, and at the same Time felt all the Shocks of Poverty, without exposing her Necessities to her nearest Friends. But at last, her Pregnancy laid the Foundation for her passing through all the Scenes, thro’ which she has wandered; for when she was seven Months gone with Child, her perfidious Husband finding himself deeply involv’d in Debt, made an Elopement from her. Notwithstanding these her Calamities, she patiently bore herself up under them, and in two Months after her Husband’s Departure was delivered of a Daughter which lived no more than seven Months, and was decently interred at her own Expence at St. George’s Parish in Middlesex.

From the Time of her Husband’s Elopement till the Time she put on Man’s Cloaths, she continued with her Sister, who is married to one James Gray, a House Carpenter, in Ship-street, Wapping, and from whence she took her Departure unknown to any, and was never heard of until her Return; and with whom she now dwells.

As she was now free from all the Ties arising from Nature and Consanguinity; she thought herself privileged to roam in quest of the Man, who, without Reason, had injured her so much; for there are no Bounds to be set either to Love, Jealousy or Hatred, in the female Mind. That she might execute her Designs with the better Grace, and the more Success, she boldly commenced a Man, at least in her Dress, and no doubt she had a Right to do so, since she had the real Soul of a Man in her Breast. Dismay’d at no Accidents, and giving a full Scope to the genuine Bent of her Heart, she put on a Suit of her Brother-in-Law, Mr. James Gray’s, Cloaths, assumed his Name, and set out on the 23d of November, 1745, and travelled to Coventry, with a View of finding her Husband, where she enlisted on the 27th of the said Month of November, in General Guise’s Regiment, and in the Company belonging to Captain Miller.

With this Regiment she marched from Coventry to Carlisle, where she learned her military Exercise, which she now performs with as much Skill and Dexterity as any Serjeant or Corporal in his Majesty’s Service. But here, as Fortune is often a Foe to the Distressed, she met with a discouraging Circumstance; for her Serjeant, whose Name was Davis, having a criminal Inclination for a young Woman in that Town, looked upon this our Female Heroine, (a common Soldier in the Company) as a proper Person for assisting him in this his vicious Intrigue, therefore disclosed to her this Bosom Secret, and desired her Endeavours in promoting this End; however, this open Discovery caused a sudden Emotion in her Mind, her virtuous Soul abhorred with a becoming Detestation the criminal Intention; yet to prevent the ill Consequences that she foresaw must ensue from a refusal of complying with his Request, she promised to use her Endeavours in his Behalf; but instead of acting the Pimp, she went and disclosed the whole Matter to the young Woman, and warned her against the impending Danger; which Act of Virtue and Generosity in a Soldier, gained her the Esteem and Confidence of this young Woman, who took great delight in her Company; and seldom a Day passed but they were together, having cultivated an Intimacy and Friendship with each other: But Davis going one Day to make his Addresses to his Mistress, met with an unexpected Repulse, which unusual Treatment made him suspect our Female Soldier. Jealousy that Moment took Possession of his guilty Breast, and he imagined, that instead of befriending him in his Amours, she had become his Rival, and had gained her over to her Inclinations. These Reflections troubled him much; Revenge reigned triumphant in his Breast, and how to punish her was his chief Aim: He took hold of the earliest Opportunity, and accused her before the commanding Officer for Neglect of Duty, upon which she was sentenced to receive six hundred Lashes, five hundred of which she received, having her Hands tied to the Castle Gates for a Crime which Nature put it out of her Power to perpetrate, and had undergone the Punishment of the other Hundred, had it not been for the Intercession of some of the Officers. This severe and unjust Punishment, reduced her to a very low State, but notwithstanding this severe Whipping, the Villain Davis bore her an implacable Hatred, and strove all he could to depress her, by putting her upon the hardest and most difficult Duties; but she was most tenderly and affectionately regarded by her Female Friend, who neglected nothing that might assure her, she was neither unmindful nor ungrateful for the Friendship she had shewed her. Soon after this, a fresh and unforeseen Trouble presented itself; there happened to come a fresh Recruit to the Regiment, a young Man whose Name was George Beck, a Carpenter, born in Worcester City, that had come to London in Quest of Business, and happened to lodge with her Brother and Sister, and whom she left at her Brothers House when she went off in Men’s Cloaths, the Sight of whom troubled her much, fearing she should be discovered by him; this, together with the Serjeant’s ill Treatment, inspired her with a Resolution to desert; having carried this her Intention to Maturity, she communicated the same to her intimate Friend the young Woman, who, tho’ loth to lose the Company of such a Friend and Companion, yielded to her Remonstrances, and provided her with Money to bear her Charge in her intended Flight.

Having gone so far with the Author of this Subject, I cannot refrain making a little Digression, and making a few Reflections upon the melancholy Prospect: What an Ocean of Troubles was this unfortunate Woman involved in? Behold her inwardly looking back on the past Vicissitudes of her Life, on an inhumane, ungrateful and faithless Husband, who had broke through all Engagements, sacred and civil, and had drove her into all the direful Troubles and Afflictions she was then involved in: Behold her tempted by a vicious Man, to be aiding and assisting in carrying on an immodest and abominable Intrigue; but (being inspired with virtuous and generous Sentiments) she proved the Instrument of extracting Good out of Evil, in discovering to the innocent Maid, where the Net was spread for her, that she might guard her self against the