Nature- Frasier is always referring to his true nature as one of wickedness: he seems to see himself as a naturally evil person, held back from time to time from committing evil deeds. First his mother instills in him a sense of honesty (although this is quickly undone by a later mistress). When his future bride wants nothing to do with him, he notes that he has “no restraints of character,” and “abandoned to my former course of wickedness” (153). He refers to himself as having a “thievish calling,” perhaps attempting to excuse his crimes by arguing they are a part of his nature (154). He says that perhaps he could have been reclaimed early in life “when education would have been most powerful to restrain from vice” (158).
Stealing- Frasier is obviously a thief, and a prolific one at that: almost his entire narrative is a list of things he stole (cheese, fabric, shoes, money). Interestingly, many of his robberies are settled outside of the justice system—he settles the score with the people from whom he stole, presumably by returning what wasn’t his. He tells us how on one occasion he stole a piece of linen and threw it away simply for revenge.
Conscience- Frasier mention his conscience towards the end of his narrative, once he has already escaped from the prison in which he awaits execution. After taking one pair of shoes and a few pieces of clothing he suddenly, inexplicably, “found what I had never experienced in all my scene of villainy before, which was the working of a guilty conscience” (157). It proves to be a rather ineffective sense of guilt, as Frasier says that he ignores it and then continues to steal his way through New England.