Moll Flanders

One day, Moll dresses up in the apron and straw hat and stands in front of a local inn, where the carriages come and go. Travelers frequently come through with packages, looking for a carriage or coach, and Moll thinks it is the perfect place to work. A woman is standing nearby, and she asks Moll if she is waiting for a carriage. Moll says yes and says she is waiting for her mistress. The woman asks Moll the name of her mistress, and Moll answers the first name that comes to her head, which, as luck would have it, is the name of a family in town. The woman knows them well, she says, and goes back to the inn.

Soon, a woman approaches with a small child. She is holding a large package, and she tells Moll that she is looking for a coach for two passengers. Moll shows her to an empty coach and helps the child in. Moll asks the woman if she would like to put her package in the coach, but the woman says no. She is worried that the package will be stolen out of the coach with only the child to watch it. Moll offers to hold the package for her, and the woman agrees, passing it Moll. The woman goes about loading the coach, and when she isn’t paying attention, Moll quietly slips off with the package.

Moll takes the package home to the midwife, and they find it full of fine clothing worth quite a bit of money. Given the success of Moll’s latest adventure, she tries the scheme many more times, although never at the same inn, and she begins scoping out warehouses, too. One day, Moll goes to a warehouse by the waterside and, with a forged letter of ownership, is easily given a large box full of linen and glassware worth nearly 22 pounds. One day, Moll dresses in the disguise of a widow and goes to work. Suddenly, she hears someone cry: “Thief, stop Thief.” A shopkeeper appears and claims a woman dressed as a widow has just robbed him.

A mob gathers around Moll, and she finds herself seized and dragged back to the shop, where the shopkeeper confirms she is not the widow who robbed him. The shopkeeper tells the mob to let Moll go, but one man says it is best to detain her until a constable arrives. Moll grows increasingly angry. The shopkeeper has already said she is not the offender, and they have no right to detain her, Moll says. Two men arrive with the real offender, and a constable arrives, too. The shopkeeper tells the constable that Moll is not the offender in question, and he apologizes for any inconvenience. Moll, however, is furious, and she wants the men who detained her to go before the magistrate so she might be compensated. 

A fight breaks out between the shopkeeper’s men, the mob, and the constable, so they all head to see the magistrate. When they arrive, the magistrate asks Moll her name, and she says her name is Mary Flanders. Moll claims to be a widow whose husband was killed at sea. She says she went shopping this morning to buy new clothes for her “second Mourning,” but before she bought a thing, she was accused of stealing by the mob. Even after the shopkeeper said she wasn’t the offender, two men detained her and treated her very badly. The magistrate apologizes for Moll’s poor treatment, but he tells her it isn’t his place to award her reparations. He does, however, send one of the men to Newgate for assaulting Moll and the constable.

Moll goes home and tells the midwife all about her eventful morning, and the midwife laughs heartily. She asks Moll if she even realizes how lucky she is and tells her to sue the shopkeeper and make him pay her £500. Moll hires an attorney, who tells the shopkeeper that Moll is a wealthy widow with a great deal of resources at her disposal, that she and plans on suing him to the greatest extent. Moll’s attorney demands £500 from the shopkeeper and he offers £50, so they make plans to meet and negotiate.  

Moll arrives at the meeting in a coach with a maid, and the shopkeeper proceeds to again tell her how sorry he is; however, the shopkeeper says, it hardly seems a reason for Moll to ruin his business. Moll admits that she isn’t looking to put the man out of business, but she does want what is coming to her for enduring such terrible treatment. They finally agree on £150 and a suit made of black silk, and Moll goes home happy. She is in good financial shape indeed. She has over £700 in her bank, plus a good deal of valuable clothing, silver, and gold jewelry.

After the ordeal with the shopkeeper, Moll decides to go back to work dressed as a beggar. The first night she tries the disguise, she just wanders around without any opportunities to steal, but on the second night, she comes upon an adventure. Moll is standing outside a tavern dressed as a beggar, when a man approaches her and hands her the reins of his horse. He tells Moll to hold the horse awhile, so he can go into the tavern. As soon as he goes inside, Moll walks off with the horse. She takes the horse home to the midwife, who is very confused. She doesn’t know what to do with a horse or how to sell it, so they decide it is best if Moll leave it at a stable. 

Moll again dresses as a beggar and goes out to work, and she meets two “Coiners of Money,” who offer to take her in on their enterprise. Moll refuses, wanting nothing to do with their business, for which the punishment is “to be burnt to Death at a Stake.” She meets other comrades, mostly those who break into houses. Moll doesn’t like breaking into houses either, but she does it for a bit and quickly grows tired of it.

The next day, Moll dresses as an upper-class lady and goes to the Mall at St. James Park, where many ladies are walking in the park. There, Moll sees two young girls, about nine and thirteen years old. The older girl is wearing a gold watch, and the younger girl has a gold necklace with pearls. Moll asks a footman who the girls are, and he tells her they are the daughters of wealthy aristocrats. Moll falls into step with the older girl as she walks and begins talking to her as if they are old friends. Suddenly, the king arrives to attend a meeting at the Parliament-House, and all the people clamor to get a look. Moll helps the girls get closer, and as she does, she steals the girl’s gold watch.    

After the Mall, Moll goes on a new adventure to the Gaming-House at Covent-Gardens. Inside, a man offers Moll a chance to bet, but she declines, claiming not to know the game. He assures her there is nothing to it and gives her money to place a bet. When Moll sits down, she finds the gambling men extremely pleasant, and she takes to winning their money. She offers the man’s money back and all the winnings, but he refuses and instead gives her more money to bet. She wins more, and after slipping a bit of the money into her purse, she again offers the man his money and winnings. He decides it isn’t right to keep all the money, so he gives Moll half—about 73 Guineas. 

Moll returns home and shares her winnings with the midwife, who is indeed happy to have them. She commends Moll on her ability to secure money, but she warns Moll about visiting Gaming-Houses. Moll understands the danger of “the Itch of Play” and decides not to place any more bets. The midwife suggests Moll stop stealing and be happy with what they have made so far, but Moll has no intention of stopping. Moll’s success grows and she becomes a notorious thief, and her name is now even more common at Newgate and Old-Baily.  

Moll begins to travel under various disguises. She goes to the spas in Tunbridge and Epsom, and then she moves on to a fair in Suffolk. Moll secures a gold watch, and then she moves on to Cambridge, where she gets some new linen. She arranges for a linen shop to deliver goods to her rented room and after the delivery boy arrives, she skips out on the bill. From there she goes to Ipswich and on to Harwich, where she encounters many foreigners and little of value. She does manage to lift a large suitcase, which is too big to move, so she leaves it where she found it.

Back on the road, Moll is stopped by Custom-House officers in Ipswich, and they break open her suitcase when she claims not to have the key. Thankfully, there is nothing incriminating in Moll’s suitcase, and the officers let her go. She moves on to Colchester, where she lived her early years as Robin’s wife. Moll realizes she knows no one in Colchester anymore, and after a few days, she moves on. She returns to London and tells the midwife all about her travels. Moll claims her story is most useful to honest people, as it reminds them to guard themselves against the dishonesty of others. Moll leaves the moral of her story to be decided by the reader; she isn’t qualified to make judgements or “preach.”

One day near Christmas, Moll enters a silver shop and is tempted by the spoons. A man across the street watches Moll enter, and since no one else is in the shop, he grows concerned. He runs into the shop and grabs Moll, accusing her of stealing. She tells him she simply came in to buy a half dozen spoons, but he isn’t listening. A crowd gathers, including the owner of the shop and a city Alderman. The Alderman is also the Justice of the Peace, so he stops to see what the commotion is all about. Moll tells him she had simply stopped to buy six spoons when a man accused her of stealing. The situation is easily resolved, and Moll goes home.

Three days later, Moll walks by a house and notices the door is open, so she goes inside. She picks ups two pieces of silk, and as she is walking out the door, two women run from across the street and detain her. A constable arrives, and when Moll can’t bribe him, he takes her before the Justice. Moll pleads with the Justice and tells him that she didn’t break anything to get into the house and she has taken nothing, so there is no harm done. The Justice is about to let Moll go, but then he learns that she was detained with fabric in her hands, which she would have stolen had she not been stopped. Moll is immediately sent to Newgate Prison.