had much the nature of a bull dog, bold and desperate, but not generous at all; all the school-mistresses we went to, could never make him learn, no, not so much as to make him know his letters; and as if he was born a thief, he would steal every thing that came near him, even as soon almost as he could speak; and that, not from his mother only, but from any body else, and from us too that were his brethren and companions. He was an original rogue, for he would do the foulest and most villainous things, even by his own inclination; he had no taste or sense of being honest, no, not, I say, to his brother rogues, which is what other thieves make a point of honour of; I mean that of being honest to one another.
The other, that is to say the youngest of us Johns, was called major Jack, by the accident following; the lady that had deposited him with our nurse, had owned to her that it was a major of the guards that was the father of the child; but that she was obliged to conceal his name, and that was enough. So he was at first called John the Major, and afterwards the Major, and at last, when we came to rove together, major Jack, according to the rest, for his name was John, as I have observed already.
Major Jack was a merry, facetious, pleasant boy, had a good share of wit, especially off-hand-wit, as
