Parts 3-4 - Moll’s Early Adventures in Marriage

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Part Three: The Draper

After her husband’s death, Moll rented a small room in the home of a linen draper, planning to find a wealthy husband before her savings were depleted. However, the linen draper had ulterior motives, hopeful that Moll would become his mistress. Aghast at his offer, Moll refused, continuing her search for a wealthy man to marry. The linen draper’s sister, she knew, was known throughout the community as a promiscuous woman with many acquaintances, so she sought her help. The sister introduced Moll to several men, but none of them seemed suitable for marriage; the men Moll found agreeable were not interested in marriage, while the marriage-minded men did not appeal to her.

Disappointment followed disappointment, but Moll eventually found the kind of man she was looking for: the man, who was also a draper but a "gentleman-tradesman," seemed to have the means to provide her with material comforts and entertainment. Although Moll was somewhat truthful with the gentleman-tradesman about her financial situation, she exaggerated her wealth to him. She observed that he lived a lavish lifestyle and assumed he had a substantial fortune. Moll allowed him to spend a lot of her money during the early months of their marriage, as she thought he would soon begin to use his own funds.

As time went by, Moll came to understand that not only did her husband have less money than her but also his spending habits were completely unmanageable. As such, she felt distressed but not shocked to learn that her husband was imprisoned for debt in a debtors' prison. On his request, she visited him in prison, then followed his instructions, collecting his valuable possessions and hiding them from debt collectors to be sold later. Moreover, he informed her that circumstances forced him to leave her alone in England, as he planned to flee to France to escape imprisonment.

Moll obeyed her husband's instructions and later received a letter from him while he was in France, which provided guidance about how to retrieve certain items he had left with pawnbrokers. Despite making a considerable profit from the sale of these items, Moll worried about her prospects. Knowing that her husband could neither return to England nor support her, she was on her own once again; however, because her husband was still alive and legally her spouse, she could not remarry, as she tried to after the death of her first husband, without breaking the law or lying about her status. In order to buy herself time to think about her next move, Moll rented a place to stay in London’s Mint District, which was known for being a refuge for fugitives and people in debt.

During this time, Moll pretended to be a widow and went by the name "Mrs. Flanders." Even though she found the unsavory people in the Mint distasteful, she valued the fact that it provided her with a sense of anonymity. Even still, she resolved to leave as soon as she could arrange her matters and secure a more suitable residence.

Part Four: An Unnatural Alliance

Shortly after moving to the Mint, Moll realized she would not be able to find the kind of husband she was hoping for among the rough and unsavory characters who frequented the local taverns and gambling establishments. As a result, when a widow offered her a place to stay in a different part of town, Moll quickly accepted the offer.

Shortly after moving to this new part of town, Moll befriended one of her neighbors, who faced issues with her engagement to a sea...

(This entire section contains 1393 words.)

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captain; after the neighbor looked into her prospective husband’s financial circumstances, the man called the engagement off. To win back the captain’s affection Moll began to spread false information about his debts and circulated rumors to harm his reputation. In the meantime, Moll and her neighbor also spread a false story that the captain's ex-fiancée was being courted by a wealthy man. Moll's plan proved successful, as the captain soon returned to his former fiancée, pleaded with her to resume their engagement, and provided a detailed report of his financial accounts when she asked about the recent rumors about his dealings.

The grateful neighbor—now the sea captain’s wife—returned Moll’s favor in equal measure, promising to assist Moll in finding a desirable partner. She convinced her husband that Moll was a wealthy, attractive woman seeking a worthy mate, and he agreed to spread the word about her desire for a match around the neighborhood. Soon after, a group of suitors lined up to pursue her hand. From among the many men interested in her, Moll eventually chose a handsome gentleman with a substantial income from his Virginia estate.

Before their wedding, Moll opted for honesty, informing the Virginian gentleman that the rumors of her substantial wealth were untrue, though she never disclosed the exact nature of her limited means. At first, he believed her words to be playful, intending to ensure that he was not interested in her simply for her money. Shortly after their wedding, however, Moll spoke openly about her limited financial resources; to allay her husband’s fear that she was destitute, she gave him six-hundred pounds—all the money to her name—in a gesture of goodwill. 

Her new husband soon realized they would have to make do with a lot less than what he had originally anticipated; as a result, he proposed they relocate from England to Virginia to make the most of his land and increase his income. The couple embarked on a perilous voyage across the sea;  along the way, they narrowly escaped an encounter with pirates but eventually made it safely to Virginia, where Moll’s new mother-in-law greeted them warmly. From then on, the three of them resided together on his estate.

While her husband was occupied with his professional responsibilities, Moll spent numerous hours conversing with his mother, who had lived an exciting and eventful life. Moll enjoyed her time in America for several years, assisting her husband and delighting in the amusing stories told by his mother. But one day, while listening to her mother-in-law recounting the events that had led her to Virginia many years earlier, Moll had a shocking and, ultimately, life-changing realization.

Many influential people in the colony, Moll’s mother-in-law explained, arrived as convicts; despite their difficult origins, they had managed to achieve wealth and success after paying their dues to society. To demonstrate that she was not ashamed to be part of this group, the elderly woman removed her glove and showed Moll her hand, revealing the white scar from a branding inflicted upon her after she was found guilty of theft. Moll's mother-in-law clarified that during that time, most felons were given a death sentence, but due to her pregnancy and imminent delivery, her sentence was reduced to a few years of forced labor as an indentured servant in the American colonies.

Listening to her mother-in-law recount the uncomfortable experience of giving birth to a baby girl in Newgate Prison, Moll became more and more uncomfortable. The details of the story confirmed Moll's worst fear: the baby was none other than her, and unknowingly, she had married her own half-brother. Her marriage was not only illegal but also unnatural and morally reprehensible. Struggling to determine her next steps, Moll decided to keep the truth to herself. Knowing that she was now living in a state of open and acknowledged incest and prostitution did not bother Moll too much, but she still worried about her future prospects and, as such, determined to once again abandon an undesirable situation. 

After mulling her options, Moll revealed her true identity to her mother and made every effort to avoid being intimate with her husband-brother. To her surprise, Moll's mother advised her to act as if their true relationship had never been revealed. However, Moll could not stand to be near her husband-brother any longer. As a result, she told him the truth about their relationship, explaining that they could not continue living as a married couple. He agreed to let her leave, but the shock of the news made him act somewhat insane. After eight years in the colonies, Moll packed her things and returned to England.

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Preface and Parts 1-2

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Parts 5-7 - Moll’s Later Adventures In and Out of Marriage