Moll Flanders

Moll knows she isn’t in any condition to see the banker. She isn’t foolish enough to marry one man while pregnant with the child of another, but she still doesn’t want to fully let the banker go. So, she vows to have him, if his interest holds, as soon as she is able. After all, Moll isn’t likely to ever see James again. Her belly grows, and people start noticing Moll’s condition. She knows she must remove herself from society, but again, Moll is without friends or anyone to advise her. She grows depressed and ill, and she hopes her illness causes her to miscarry. Of course, Moll clarifies, she would never make herself miscarry. 

In short time, the lady of the house where Moll boards sends a midwife to see her. The woman seems to be an experienced midwife, and she has a different calling as well, “in which she [is] as expert as most women, if not more.” Moll’s “Mother Midnight” begins to explain. She knows Moll needs assistance for her “Lying Inn,” and she can help. The Midwife tells Moll that Moll’s circumstances are of no concern to her—in other words, she doesn’t care if the baby’s father is Moll’s husband—and Moll understands that she is a “Whore” here. 

The midwife tells Moll that she has an agreement with the local Parish to handle such cases, and she runs a house where many women go to “Lye-Inn.” Moll understands perfectly, she says, and tells the midwife that she doesn’t have much, but she can afford the cost of her keeping. The midwife returns the next day with details—she has three different care packages to choose from—and presents them to Moll. The three options range from £13 to £53 for three months’ service, and Moll selects the least expensive. But, Moll says, she still has a few months to go and might need to stay longer than three months. The midwife assures Moll she never puts anyone out before they are ready.   

Moll soon moves to the midwife’s house, where Moll is pleased to find the house clean and quite luxurious. The midwife has several businesses and one such business is finding people who, for a bit of money, will take children after they are born and provide for them. Moll questions what happens to the children after they are gone, but the midwife assures her she takes great care in all her business. Furthermore, the midwife says, she has saved the lives of countless children, who otherwise might have been destroyed by their desperate mothers. The midwife also offers to provide Moll with something to make her miscarry, if she wants to be rid of the problem that way, but Moll refuses.

During Moll’s time with the midwife, Moll is comfortable and well cared for. It is obvious to Moll that the midwife has a thriving business, which is clearly a “whoring Account.” The Midwife has 12 “Ladies of Pleasure” and a number of other women “Lying Inn.” Living in such a place “shock’d [Moll’s] very Senses,” and she feels sick to her stomach. However, Moll admits, she never sees anything indecent take place there. Before long, Moll receives a letter from the banker. He has divorced his wife, and Moll is pleased, but she writes back and claims to doubt the lawfulness of such a decree.

By mid-May, Moll gives birth to another son. Soon after, she again receives a letter from the banker. He has obtained a divorce from his wife, and after she was served with the papers, she committed suicide. With his cheating wife out of the picture, the banker invites Moll to come to London and be with him. Moll is pleased, but she isn’t sure what to do with the child. In search of advice, Moll tells the midwife all about her predicament—her marriage to James, his inability to go to London, and his blessing for Moll to move on—and she says that she has found a good offer in the banker. The problem, Moll says, is the child. If she returns to the banker with the boy, the banker will know that Moll has been with another since she left London for Lancashire. 

However, the thought of giving up her child deeply pains Moll. The midwife reassures Moll and tells her that the children she places are cared for just as their mothers themselves would care for them. If she knew for sure that her baby would be well cared for, Moll says, she would happily agree to place the child in the midwife’s hands. The midwife arranges—for an added fee, of course—for Moll to have the option of seeing the child whenever she wants. Moll agrees, and the next week, a woman arrives from the country. She will take the child off Moll’s hands for £10, and for an additional £5 a year, she will allow Moll to see him whenever she desires. 

Afterward, Moll begins to write the banker in a more friendly tone, and she tells him that she will be in London come August. The banker suggests instead that they meet in Brickhill, a town just outside London. They find lodging and go to dinner, and Moll gets the feeling that the banker is going to propose to her. She knows that she will not deny him. The innkeeper asks to speak to the banker alone, and Moll overhears the men talking about a minister, who is willing to serve them as discreetly as they like. After dinner, the banker begins kissing and sweet-talking Moll, and then he takes out several official documents and places them before her.  

The banker presents Moll with documentation of his divorce from his wife and proof of her crime as a “Whore,” and he further presents Moll with proof of his wife’s death and burial. Moll can see he has yet another document, and she asks him what it is. “Ay,” he says slyly. He then produces a box, which contains a very nice diamond ring. Moll is so happy that she can’t refuse. The other document, the banker says, is a marriage license, and he begins to “violently” kiss her. He knocks Moll to the bed, all the while kissing her and professing his love, and he refuses to let her up until she agrees to marry him. She won’t refuse him, Moll says, so he might as well let her up. 

The banker is so happy that Moll has accepted him, there are tears in his eyes as he stands. Moll must turn from him, because there are tears in her eyes, too, and she begins to feel remorse for the wicked life she has led. She briefly wonders how her life would have been had she met a nice, loving man like the banker earlier. She starts to feel bad that she has deceived him as to the full truth of her past. Little does he know, Moll thinks, he has gotten rid of one “Whore” just to take up with another. What will the banker think if he ever finds out that Moll is the daughter of a thief, born in Newgate Prison?

Before long, a minister arrives, and the banker presents him with the marriage license. Satisfied, the minister asks where the bride is, and the banker goes to fetch Moll. She is shocked that he means to be married now—at an inn and so late at night, far from the sacred church. The minister convinces Moll that a marriage performed at an inn is just as legal and binding as one performed in a church, and she finally agrees to marry the banker now.

Moll and the banker’s marriage is kept completely secret, and they return to their room as husband and wife, where they “enjoy’d [themselves] that Evening compleatly.” The next morning, they remain in bed until nearly noon, at which time Moll rises and goes to the window. She looks outside, and to her absolute surprise she sees James go into a house across the street with two other men. She panics. The banker cannot see her so undone, and she quickly thinks about her options. She wants to know what James is doing there, but she doesn’t want to see him—running into him could ruin her life with the banker. Two hours later, Moll watches as James and the two men exit the house and head out of town.

The next day, as Moll and the banker are getting ready to return to London, excitement breaks out all over town. Three highwaymen robbed nearly £560 in money and goods from travelers, and three strange men have been seen in the area. Moll tells the constable that she indeed saw the men in question, and one of them she knows very well from Lancashire. He is an honest and good man, Moll says, and he can’t possibly be one of the highwaymen. The constable tells his men they are mistaken; the three men seen in town have nothing to do with the robberies. The excitement delays Moll and the banker’s departure, and they finally head back to London four days later.

Moll returns to London a married woman and she moves directly into the banker’s house, which she finds well-furnished and more than adequate. There, Moll lives a very happy life. She has “landed in a safe Harbour,” and she “sincerely” repents her wicked past. But, Moll points out, as “Covetousness is the Root of all Evil, so Poverty is, I believe, the worst of all Snares.” Moll lives an easy life for five years, until the banker loses a large sum of his money to a dishonest business associate. The banker grows depressed and lethargic after losing so much money and promptly dies, leaving Moll alone with two children.

After the death of the banker, Moll isn’t left in debt, but she doesn’t have enough money to support herself either. She is again without friends or anyone to advise her, so she sits and cries, lamenting her miserable existence. Moll lives this way for two years, and then she decides to leave her house and move on. She sells everything she owns and lives on that sum for nearly a year, but she has no hope of bringing in any additional money. Moll interrupts her story and begs the reader not to continue without “seriously reflecting on the Circumstances of [her] desolate state.” And, Moll adds, it is best to remember the adage: “Give me not Poverty lest I Steal.”