Jonathan Wild

But let us have it a little clearer if you can.

Is it forgery, coining, burglary? Where does the money come from? Have you ever read of Jonathan Wilde? Well, the name has a familiar sound.

Someone in a novel, was he not? I don't take much stock of detectives in novels.

Chaps that do things and never let you see how they do them.

That's just inspiration, not business.

Jonathan Wilde wasn't a detective, and he wasn't in a novel.

He was a master criminal, and he lived last century, or thereabouts.

Then he's no use to me.

Is it forgery, coining, burglary? Where does the money come from?"

"Have you ever read of Jonathan Wild?"

"Well, the name has a familiar sound.

Someone in a novel, was it not? I don't take much stock of detectives in novels.

Chaps that do things and never let you see how they do them, that's just inspiration, not business."

"Jonathan Wild wasn't a detective, and he wasn't in a novel.

He was a master criminal, and he lived last century, 1750 or thereabouts."

"Then he's no use to me.

I do not think that we could derive the full quantity of pleasure from him without it.

The exuberant romantic faculty of Joseph Andrews and its pleasant satire, the mighty craftsmanship and the vast science of life of Tom Jones, the ineffable irony and logical grasp of Jonathan Wilde, might have left us with a slight sense of hardness, a vague desire for unction, if it had not been for this completion of the picture.

We should not have known, for in the other books, with the possible exception of Mrs. Fitzpatrick, the characters are a little too determinately goats and sheep.

How Fielding could draw nuances, how he could project a mixed personage on the screen, if we had not had Miss Matthews and Mrs. Atkinson, the last especially, a figure full of the finest strokes, and as a rule, insufficiently done justice to by critics.

dearMr.

Mack, you've read about Jonathan Wild, I take it.

Uh, yes, yes.

Uh, some sort of criminal in the old days.

Everything comes in circles, Mr. Mack, even Professor Moriarty.

Jonathan Wild was the hidden force of the London criminals in the 1750s or thereabout.

Oh.

He sold them his brains and his organization on a 15% commission.

But let us have it a little clearer if you can.

Is it forgery, coining, burglary? Where does the money come from?" "Have you ever read of Jonathan Wilde?" "Well, the name has a familiar sound.

Someone in a novel, was he not? I don't take much stock of detectives in novels.

Chaps that do things and never let you see how they do them.

That's just inspiration, not business." "Jonathan Wilde wasn't a detective, and he wasn't in a novel.

He was a master criminal, and he lived last century, 1750 or thereabouts." "Then he's no use to me.

I'm a practical man." "Mr.

Mac, the most practical thing that you ever did in your life would be to shut yourself up for three months and read twelve hours a day at the annals of crime.

Everything comes in circles, Mr. Mac, even Professor Moriarty.

Jonathan Wild was the hidden force of the London criminals in the seventeen fifties or thereabout.

Ah.

He sold them his brains and his organization on a fifteen percent commission.

Well? Surely the inference is plain.

You mean that he has a great income, and that he must earn it in a legal fashion?' exactly of course i have other reasons for thinking so dozens of exiguous threads which lead vaguely up towards the centre of the web where the poisonous motionless creature is lurking i only mention the gruus because it brings the matter within the range of your own observation mr holmes i admit that what you say is interesting it's more than interesting it's just wonderful but let us have it a little clearer if you can is it forgery coining burglary where does the money come from have you ever read of jonathan wilde well the name has a familiar sound someone in a novel was he not you don't take much stock of detectives in novels chaps that do things and never let you see how they do them that's just inspiration not business jonathan wilde wasn't a detective and he wasn't in a novel he was a master criminal and he lived last century seventeen fifty or thereabouts then he's no use to me i'm a practical man Mr Mack, the most practical thing that you ever did in your life would be to shut yourself up for three months and read twelve hours a day at the Annals of Crime.

Everything comes in circles, even Professor Moriarty.

Jonathan Wild was the hidden force of the London criminals to whom he sold his brains in his organisation on a fifteen per cent commission.

Given himself that name.

Jonathan Wild.

Have you come across him?

No, I don't think so.

Yeah, yeah

... a criminal into them.

They're like, "Thank you very much for your work, Jonathan Wild." And the, the relationship between Jack Sheppard and Jonathan Wild, you know, starts off potentially as a collaborative one, but it's gonna become, like, the biggest rivalry that London has seen in the criminal underworld.

I love that for him.

Is it forgery, coining, burglary? Where does the money come from?

Have you ever read of Jonathan Wild?

Well, the name has a familiar sound.

Someone in a novel, was it not? I don't take much stock of detectives in novels.

Chaps that do things and never let you see how they do them, that's just inspiration, not business.

Jonathan Wild wasn't a detective, and he wasn't in a novel.

He was a master criminal, and he lived last century, 1750 or thereabouts.

Then he's no use to me.