Volume 2

Portraits and lives of remarkable and eccentric characters.

Date:
[1819?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Portraits and lives of remarkable and eccentric characters. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    225/332 (page 179)
    JAMES AITKIN, alias JACK THE PAINTER. AS WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. “ I drew my first breath at Edinburgh, in Scotland. I was brought up in the persuasion of a protestant dissenter; and being the only son, was treated with that paternal affection which, by gratifying all desires, begot in me the most stubborn and obdurate disposition. “ On my arrival in London, I applied to people in the painting way, and immediately got into employ. But business not agreeing with my inclination, I determined to relieve myself on the highway. I accordingly provided myself with pistols, and proceeded to Finchley-common. Perceiving a post-chaise, I made up to it, and, with the discharge of one of my pistols, demanded