after her Departure her Son died, but Providence in Return, was pleaſed to give her a Girl in his Room, of which ſhe was ſafely delivered, in her Retreat, and this was our Mary Read.
Here the Mother liv’d three or four Years, till what Money ſhe had was almoſt gone; then ſhe thought of returning to London, and conſidering that her Husband’s Mother was in ſome Circumſtances, ſhe did not doubt but to prevail upon her, to provide for the Child, if ſhe could but paſs it upon her for the ſame, but the changing a Girl into a Boy, ſeem’d a difficult Piece of Work, and how to deceive an experienced old Woman, in ſuch a Point, was altogether as impoſſible; however, ſhe ventured to dreſs it up as a Boy, brought it to Town, and preſented it to her Mother in Law, as her Husband’s Son; the old Woman would have taken it, to have bred it up, but the Mother pretended it would break her Heart, to part with it; ſo it was agreed betwixt them, that the Child ſhould live with the Mother, and the ſuppoſed Grandmother ſhould allow a Crown a Week for it’s Maintainance.
Thus the Mother gained her Point, ſhe bred up her Daughter as a Boy, and when ſhe grew up to ſome Senſe, ſhe thought proper to let her into the Secret of her Birth, to induce her to conceal her Sex. It happen’d that the Grandmother died, by which Means the Subſiſtance that came from that Quarter, ceaſed, and they were more and more reduced in their Circumſtances; wherefore ſhe was obliged to put her Daughter out, to wait on a French Lady, as a Foot-boy, being now thirteen Years of Age: Here ſhe did not live long, for growing bold and ſtrong, and having alſo a roving Mind, ſhe entered her ſelf on Board a Man of War, where ſhe ſerved ſome Time, then quitted it, went over into Flanders, and carried Arms in a Re-
