The first place of safety at which young Waldron thought proper to halt, was at an obscure inn in Drogheda, where a company of strolling players happening to be at the time, it was the occasion of a new series of acquaintance, which, though formed on precipitation and on the spur of the occasion, was retained from choice and affection for a number of years.
One John Price, the manager of the strolling company, became quickly the confidant, and from the confidant the sole counsellor of the young fugitive Waldron, who, influenced by the ardor, the natural and unguarded ingenuousness of a youthful mind, communicated to this new friend, without reserve, all the circumstances of his life and story. By his advice this unhappy youth renounced his paternal name, assumed that of Barrington, entered into the company, and in the course of four days became so absolutely and formally a strolling son of Thespis, that he performed the part of Jaffier in “Venice Preserved,” with some applause, to a crowded audience, in a barn in the suburbs of Drogheda; and this without the assistance of a prompter.
Though the reception he met with on his debut was very flattering to a mind like his, Price, as well as himself, thought it would not be proper for him to appear in public so near the scene of his late depredations in the capital. It was, therefore, resolved on by them that the whole company should without delay move to the northward, and, if possible, get to the distance of sixty or eighty miles from Dublin before they halted for any length of time. In order to enable so numerous a body to move with all their baggage, it was necessary to raise money; and in doing this, Barrington’s assistance being the first thing that offered, was indispensably necessary. He was accordingly applied to, and acquiesced with a good grace, giving Price Mrs. Goldsborough’s gold repeater, which was disposed of for the general benefit of the strollers.
As soon as the necessary funds were procured, all these children of Thespis set out for Londonderry, which was the place at which they first designed to play. Travelling but slowly, they were a considerable time on their journey; and during the course of it, the penetrating eyes of the experienced actresses discovered that Barrington had made a tender impression on the heart of Miss Egerton, the young lady who played the part of Belvidera when he acted that of Jaffier at Drogheda. This poor girl was the daughter of an opulent tradesman at Coventry. She was young and beautiful, sweet-tempered and accomplished, but now friendless; and though, like the rest, inured to misfortune, she was destitute of the experience which is generally acquired during a series of sinister and untoward events. At the age of sixteen she was seduced by a lieutenant of marines, with whom she fled from her father’s house to Dublin, where in less than three months he abandoned her, leaving her a prey to poverty, infamy, and desperation.
Having been thus deceived in the simplicity of innocence by the cunning and falsehood of one of the vilest and most profligate of human beings, she had no other resource from the most extreme want than closing with Price, who proposed to her to join his company; which, situated as she was, she readily agreed to do, and had been with him but a very short time when she saw Barrington, of whom, being of a warm constitution, she became rather suddenly enamored. But to the credit of our adventurer, although his affection was as ardent as her own, it was not of that brutal and profligate cast that so frequently disgraces the devious paths of youthful imprudence and indiscretion. On the part of Miss Egerton, the symptoms of her affection for him were so obvious, that, inexperienced as he then was in matters of gallantry and intrigue, he not only perceived her passion but was sensible of her merit, and returned her love with perfect sincerity.
It was not long before Price, urged a second time by want of money, found it expedient to insinuate to the unfortunate Barrington, that a young man of his address and appearance might very easily find means to introduce himself into some of the public places to which the merchants and chapmen of that commercial city generally resorted; and that he there might, without any great difficulty, find opportunities of picking their pockets unnoticed, and of escaping undetected, more especially at that particular time, when, the fair being held, a favorable juncture afforded itself of executing a plan of such a nature with safety and facility. The idea pleased our needy adventurer, and the plan formed on it was carried into execution by him and his trusty confidant John Price, the very next day, with great success; at least such it appeared to them at that time, their acquisitions having amounted, on the close of the evening, to about forty guineas in cash, and above one hundred and fifty pounds, Irish currency, in bank-notes; which, however, they artfully determined not, on any account, to circulate in the part of the kingdom in which they were obtained. This precaution became peculiarly necessary; for several gentlemen having been robbed, the town took the alarm, which was the greater, or at least made the more noise, from the rarity of such events in that part of the kingdom, where the picking of pockets is said to be very little practised or known. But whatever the alarm was, or whatever noise it made, neither Barrington nor his accomplice was suspected. They however resolved to leave Derry as soon as they could with any appearance of propriety depart from thence: so that, having played a few nights as usual, with more applause than profit, they and their associates of the sock and buskin removed from Londonderry to Ballyshannon, in the county of Donegal, and never more returned into that part of the kingdom, where George Barrington may be considered as having commenced the business of a regular and professed pickpocket, in the summer of the year 1771, being at that time little more than sixteen years of age, and having just laid by the profession of a strolling player.
This wretched company having now become thieves as well as vagrants in the eye of the law, and compelled to subsist upon the plunder above mentioned, after travelling about a fortnight, arrived at Ballyshannon. Here Barrington, with the company to which he belonged, spent the autumn and the winter of the year 1771, playing generally on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and picking pockets with John Price every day in the week, whenever opportunity offered; a business which, though attended with danger and certain infamy, he found more lucrative and more entertaining than that of the theatre, where his fame and his proficiency were by no means equal to the expectations he had raised, or to the hopes that had been formed of him on his first appearance at Drogheda.
From Ballyshannon, at length, having left the company of his friend Price, he moved to the southward, with his faithful Miss Egerton, whom he had the misfortune to lose forever in crossing the river Boyne, in which she was drowned, through the ignorance, or the more culpable negligence, of a ferryman.
Barrington, however, virtuous in his attachment to Miss Egerton, was for some time inconsolable for the loss which he had just sustained; but being neither of an age nor of a temper propitious to the continuance of sorrowful sensations, he hastened to Limerick, where he hoped to meet Price, his old accomplice. On his arrival in that city, he learned that the person after whom he had inquired had set out for Cork ten days before, and thither our adventurer followed him, and found him within an hour after he entered the town gates. On their meeting, it was agreed on by them never more to think of the stage; a resolution which was the more easily executed, as the company to which they originally belonged was now broken up and dispersed. It was besides settled between them that Price should pass for Barrington’s servant, and that Barrington should act the part of a young gentleman of large fortune and of a noble family, who was not yet quite of age, but, until he should attain that period, travelled for his amusement. In pursuance of this hopeful scheme, horses were purchased, and the master and man, now united as knight-errant and esquire, and well equipped for every purpose of depredation, accordingly took their determination to act their several parts in the wild field of adventure; and thus, in the summer of 1772, as the race grounds in the south of Ireland presented themselves as the fairest objects, they hastened to these scenes of spoliation, and were successful even beyond their expectation.
Picking pockets being rather new amongst the gentry of Ireland, their want of precaution rendered them a more easy prey to Mr. Barrington and his accomplice, who found means to retire to Cork on the setting in of winter, with a booty of nearly one thousand pounds. In this city they found it convenient to fix their residence, at least till the next spring. And now it was that Barrington first determined within himself to become what has been called a gentleman pickpocket, and to affect both the airs and importance of a man of fashion.