In the merry old England of George III, there was a fine line between virtue and vice, and much depended upon what social class to which one belonged. For the poor folk, it took little to send them to the gallows--and the wealthy took great pleasure in exerting their power.

I am going to die, Polly thought. The crowd clamoured for a speech. Polly raised her hands and they fell silent. From the foot of the gallows, she asked the spectators why she, a poor woman, should hang for theft, while the abbess of Covent Garden can commit murder on the souls of innocent country girls over and over again, and yet go free. And then she condemned them to hell.