The Augustan Reprint Society

BERNARD MANDEVILLE,

AN ENQUIRY

INTO THE CAUSES

OF THE

FREQUENT EXECUTIONS

AT

TYBURN.

(1725)

INTRODUCTION

By MALVIN R. ZIRKER, Jr.

PUBLICATION NUMBER 105

WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY

University of California, Los Angeles

1964

GENERAL EDITORS

Richard C. Boys, University of Michigan
Earl R. Miner, University of California, Los Angeles
Maximillian E. Novak, University of California, Los Angeles
Lawrence Clark Powell, Wm. Andrews Clark Memorial Library

ADVISORY EDITORS

John Butt, University of Edinburgh
James L. Clifford, Columbia University
Ralph Cohen, University of California, Los Angeles
Vinton A. Dearing, University of California, Los Angeles
Arthur Friedman, University of Chicago
Louis A. Landa, Princeton University
Samuel H. Monk, University of Minnesota
Everett T. Moore, University of California, Los Angeles
James Sutherland, University College, London
H. T. Swedenberg, Jr., University of California, Los Angeles

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY

Edna C. Davis, Clark Memorial Library
[i]

INTRODUCTION

The Enquiry into the Causes of the Frequent Executions at Tyburnwas originally published as a series of letters to the British Journal.The first letter appeared on February 27, 1725;[1] just twelve days before,Jonathan Wild, self-proclaimed "Thief-Catcher General of GreatBritain and Ireland," had been arrested and imprisoned in Newgate.Thus the Enquiry had a special timeliness and forms a part of the contemporaryinterest in the increasingly notorious activities of Wild.Wild's systematic exploitation of the London underworld and his callousbetrayal of his colleagues in criminality (he received£40 from thegovernment for each capital conviction he could claim) had createdpublic protest since at least 1718 when an act (which Mandeville citesin his Preface) directed against receivers of stolen goods was passed,most probably with the primary intention of curtailing Wild's operations.Wild's notoriety was at its peak in 1724-5 after his successful apprehensionof Joseph Blake ("Blueskin") and Jack Sheppard, the latterfigure becoming a kind of national hero after his five escapes fromprison (he was recaptured by Wild each time)....