Hannah Snell, was born in Fryer-Street, in the Parish of St. Hellen’s, in the City of Worcester, on the 23d Day of April, 1723. Her Parents, tho’ not immensely Rich by the hereditary Gifts of Fortune, yet secured a Competency, which not only placed them above Contempt, but also enabled them to bring up, and educate a numerous Family, none of whom have miscarried for want either of sufficient Learning from Masters, or salutary Advices and virtuous Examples from their Parents. And though Mrs. Hannah Snell did not while she was at School learn to write, yet she made a tolerable Progress in the other Part of Education common to her Sex, and could read exceeding well.
Though the Father of our Heroine was no more than a Hosier and Dyer, yet he was the Son of the illustrious Capt. Lieut. Sam. Snell, for so I may or rather must call him, since with Intrepidity he stood the Brunt of the Wars in the latter End of King William’s Reign, signalized himself at the taking of Dunkirk and served faithfully in the English Army during Queen Anne’s Wars.
This Captain Lieutenant Snell, the Grandfather of our Heroine, enter’d as a Volunteer in King William’s Reign, and in the Beginning of Queen Anne’s Wars, was at the taking of Dunkirk under the Duke of Marlborough, where the Captain Lieutenant was killed by a Shot fired through the Wicket by the Governor; upon which he fired, and killed the Governor. When the Duke was informed thereof, he called him, and asked him what Preferment he desired; his Answer was, that he chose to accept of that Commission, which was become vacant by the Death of the Captain Lieutenant, which he was immediately preferr’d to, and took upon him the Command as such. After the Surrender of Dunkirk, where he received several dangerous Wounds, he returned to England, where he had the proffer of a very handsome Pension in Chelsea College; but coveting fresh Glory, and new Trophies of Conquest, he intreated of his Grace, that he would permit him once more to go Abroad with him, that he might have an Opportunity of signalizing his Valour, against the avowed Enemies of his Country. This his Request his Grace complied with, and at the Battle of Malplaquet he received a mortal Wound, from whence he was carried to Ghent, where he died: This last, was the twenty-second bloody Battle in which he had been engaged, and which he generously launched out into upon the sublime Motives, Liberty and Property. This Gentleman’s Character must appear the more sublime, when we observe how he advanced himself by Merit from a private Cadit to the Rank he held at his Death; and had it not been for his over-modest and generous Sentiments, he might have been preferr’d to a much higher Rank; but the Englishman prevail’d above Self-Interest.
The Son of this illustrious Man of whom we have here treated, and Father of our Heroine, was possessed of many excellent Gifts, particularly Courage, for which he was distinguished; yet never had an Opportunity of displaying his Bravery in the Field of Battle, his Genius leading him another Way, to wit, Trade, into which he entered very young, and prospered in the World, married to his liking, and in a few Years saw himself the Father of nine promising Children, three of which were Sons, and six Daughters, all of whom save one Daughter, were either Soldiers or Sailors, or intermarried with them. The eldest of the Sons, Samuel Snell, incapable of Restraint, and void of all Fear, listed himself a Soldier in Lord Robert Manners’s Company in the first Regiment of Foot-Guards, commanded by his Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland; when he was draughted to go for Flanders, where he received his mortal Wound at the battle of Fontenoy; and being sent to the Hospital at Doway, he there expired.
Tho’ the Daughters were, by those who knew them, accounted aimable Women, both on Account of their Persons and their Virtue; yet I shall pass over the Characters of five of them in Silence, and only take Notice of that of Hannah, the youngest of them but one, who is the Heroine of this Subject. It is a common Thing to observe a Family dispersed, when the Heads of that Family are either laid in their Graves, or by accidental Calamities rendered incapable of supporting it longer. Accordingly, when the Father and Mother of Hannah died, Hannah came up to London, and arrived in Town on Christmas-Day, 1740, and resided for some Time, with her Sister in Wapping.
Some Time after she came to London, she contracted an Acquaintance with one James Summs, a Sailor, who was a Dutchman; this Acquaintance was gradually improved into a Familiarity, and this Familiarity soon created a mutual, tho’ not a criminal Passion; for in a little Time, Summs made his Addresses to her as a Lover, and gained her Consent, and was married to her at the Fleet, on the sixth Day of January, 1743-4. But all his Promises of Friendship, proved Instances of the highest Perfidy, and he turn’d out the worst and most unnatural of Husbands. Since, tho’ she had Charms enough to captivate the Heart, and secure the Affection of any reasonable Man, yet she was despised and contemned by her Husband, who not only kept criminal Company with other Women of the basest Characters, but also made away with her Things, in Order to support his Luxury, and the daily Expences of his Whores. During this unlucky Period of the Husband’s Debauchery, she poor Woman proved with Child, and at the same Time felt all the Shocks of Poverty, without exposing her Necessities to her nearest Friends. But at last, her Pregnancy laid the Foundation for her passing through all the Scenes, thro’ which she has wandered; for when she was seven Months gone with Child, her perfidious Husband finding himself deeply involv’d in Debt, made an Elopement from her. Notwithstanding these her Calamities, she patiently bore herself up under them, and in two Months after her Husband’s Departure was delivered of a Daughter which lived no more than seven Months, and was decently interred at her own Expence at St. George’s Parish in Middlesex.
From the Time of her Husband’s Elopement till the Time she put on Man’s Cloaths, she continued with her Sister, who is married to one James Gray, a House Carpenter, in Ship-street, Wapping, and from whence she took her Departure unknown to any, and was never heard of until her Return; and with whom she now dwells.
As she was now free from all the Ties arising from Nature and Consanguinity; she thought herself privileged to roam in quest of the Man, who, without Reason, had injured her so much; for there are no Bounds to be set either to Love, Jealousy or Hatred, in the female Mind. That she might execute her Designs with the better Grace, and the more Success, she boldly commenced a Man, at least in her Dress, and no doubt she had a Right to do so, since she had the real Soul of a Man in her Breast. Dismay’d at no Accidents, and giving a full Scope to the genuine Bent of her Heart, she put on a Suit of her Brother-in-Law, Mr. James Gray’s, Cloaths, assumed his Name, and set out on the 23d of November, 1745, and travelled to Coventry, with a View of finding her Husband, where she enlisted on the 27th of the said Month of November, in General Guise’s Regiment, and in the Company belonging to Captain Miller.
With this Regiment she marched from Coventry to Carlisle, where she learned her military Exercise, which she now performs with as much Skill and Dexterity as any Serjeant or Corporal in his Majesty’s Service. But here, as Fortune is often a Foe to the Distressed, she met with a discouraging Circumstance; for her Serjeant, whose Name was Davis, having a criminal Inclination for a young Woman in that Town, looked upon this our Female Heroine, (a common Soldier in the Company) as a proper Person for assisting him in this his vicious Intrigue, therefore disclosed to her this Bosom Secret, and desired her Endeavours in promoting this End; however, this open Discovery caused a sudden Emotion in her Mind, her virtuous Soul abhorred with a becoming Detestation the criminal Intention; yet to prevent the ill Consequences that she foresaw must ensue from a refusal of complying with his Request, she promised to use her Endeavours in his Behalf; but instead of acting the Pimp, she went and disclosed the whole Matter to the young Woman, and warned her against the impending Danger; which Act of Virtue and Generosity in a Soldier, gained her the Esteem and Confidence of this young Woman, who took great delight in her Company; and seldom a Day passed but they were together, having cultivated an Intimacy and Friendship with each other: But Davis going one Day to make his Addresses to his Mistress, met with an unexpected Repulse, which unusual Treatment made him suspect our Female Soldier. Jealousy that Moment took Possession of his guilty Breast, and he imagined, that instead of befriending him in his Amours, she had become his Rival, and had gained her over to her Inclinations. These Reflections troubled him much; Revenge reigned triumphant in his Breast, and how to punish her was his chief Aim: He took hold of the earliest Opportunity, and accused her before the commanding Officer for Neglect of Duty, upon which she was sentenced to receive six hundred Lashes, five hundred of which she received, having her Hands tied to the Castle Gates for a Crime which Nature put it out of her Power to perpetrate, and had undergone the Punishment of the other Hundred, had it not been for the Intercession of some of the Officers. This severe and unjust Punishment, reduced her to a very low State, but notwithstanding this severe Whipping, the Villain Davis bore her an implacable Hatred, and strove all he could to depress her, by putting her upon the hardest and most difficult Duties; but she was most tenderly and affectionately regarded by her Female Friend, who neglected nothing that might assure her, she was neither unmindful nor ungrateful for the Friendship she had shewed her. Soon after this, a fresh and unforeseen Trouble presented itself; there happened to come a fresh Recruit to the Regiment, a young Man whose Name was George Beck, a Carpenter, born in Worcester City, that had come to London in Quest of Business, and happened to lodge with her Brother and Sister, and whom she left at her Brothers House when she went off in Men’s Cloaths, the Sight of whom troubled her much, fearing she should be discovered by him; this, together with the Serjeant’s ill Treatment, inspired her with a Resolution to desert; having carried this her Intention to Maturity, she communicated the same to her intimate Friend the young Woman, who, tho’ loth to lose the Company of such a Friend and Companion, yielded to her Remonstrances, and provided her with Money to bear her Charge in her intended Flight.
Having gone so far with the Author of this Subject, I cannot refrain making a little Digression, and making a few Reflections upon the melancholy Prospect: What an Ocean of Troubles was this unfortunate Woman involved in? Behold her inwardly looking back on the past Vicissitudes of her Life, on an inhumane, ungrateful and faithless Husband, who had broke through all Engagements, sacred and civil, and had drove her into all the direful Troubles and Afflictions she was then involved in: Behold her tempted by a vicious Man, to be aiding and assisting in carrying on an immodest and abominable Intrigue; but (being inspired with virtuous and generous Sentiments) she proved the Instrument of extracting Good out of Evil, in discovering to the innocent Maid, where the Net was spread for her, that she might guard her self against the Adversary: Behold the Friendship that this virtuous Discovery produced, it chained them together in the strictest Bonds of Love and Affection, which never quitted its hold, till forced thereto by a hard Fate: Behold her suspected of supplanting the Serjeant of his Mistress, and the direful Effects his Jealousy occasioned, having her Arms extended, and fixed to the City Gates, and there receive the Number of five hundred severe Lashes, as the Effects of a partial and unjust Sentence: Behold her tender Flesh cut and mangled by these Scourgings, and the Pains and Agonies she suffered: Behold in this her Distress, the friendly Sympathy and eager Assistance of her female Friend, who administred Relief to her under this her Dilemma: Behold the Commotions she felt upon perciving one in the Regiment whom she knew, and by whom she was afraid of being discovered; the bad Treatment she met with from the Serjeant, and what a Storm must surround her upon her projecting the Means for an Escape, and the moving Seperation ’twixt her and her Friend: The Rehearsal of so many concurring Circumstances of Adversity, is sufficient to melt the most stoney Heart into a compassionate Tenderness for this our female Adventurer.