ſure of dying an ignominious Death, if ſhe ſhould be taken alive?She anſwer’d, that as to hanging, ſhe thought it no great Hardſhip, for, were it not for that, every cowardly Fellow would turn Pyrate, and ſo infeſt the Seas, that Men of Courage muſt ſtarve:That if it was put to the Choice of the Pyrates, they would not have the puniſhment leſs than Death, the Fear of which, kept ſome daſtardly Rogues honeſt; that many of thoſe who are now cheating the Widows and Orphans, and oppreſſing their poor Neighbours, who have no Money to obtain Juſtice, would then rob at Sea, and the Ocean would be crowded with Rogues, like the Land, and no Merchant would venture out; ſo that the Trade, in a little Time, would not be worth following.
Being found quick with Child, as has been obſerved, her Execution was reſpited, and it is poſſible ſhe would have found Favour, but ſhe was ſeiz’d with a violent Fever, ſoon after her Tryal, of which ſhe died in Priſon.
The Life of Anne Bonny,
As we have been more particular in the Lives of theſe two Women, than thoſe of other Pyrates, it is incumbent on us, as a faithful Hiſtorian, to begin with their Birth. Anne Bonny was born at a Town near Cork, in the Kingdom of Ireland, her Father an Attorney at Law, but Anne was not one of his legitimate Iſſue, which ſeems to croſs an old Proverb, which ſays, that Baſtards
have
