Mary Frith (1584–1659), better known as Moll Cutpurse, was a notorious London pickpocket, and fence who became famous for openly defying the social and gender norms of early-17th-century England. She dressed in men’s clothing, smoked a pipe, swore, drank publicly, and cultivated a bold, unruly persona that earned her the nickname “The Roaring Girl.” Frequently arrested for theft and for appearing in male attire, she even performed onstage at the Fortune Theatre in 1611, remarkable at a time when

She Dressed as a Man & Robbed the Streets: The Story of Moll Cutpurse...