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diff --git a/old/53111-0.txt b/old/53111-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index b154fa7..0000000 --- a/old/53111-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8997 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Half-hours with The Highwaymen - Vol 1, by -Charles George Harper - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Half-hours with The Highwaymen - Vol 1 - Picturesque Biographies and Traditions of The "Knights of The Road" - -Author: Charles George Harper - -Release Date: October 10, 2016 [EBook #53111] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HIGHWAYMEN *** - - - - -Produced by deaurider, Christian Boissonnas and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - - - - HALF-HOURS WITH - THE HIGHWAYMEN - - - - -WORKS BY CHARLES G. HARPER - - - =The Portsmouth Road=, and its Tributaries: To-day and in Days of - Old. - - =The Dover Road=: Annals of an Ancient Turnpike. - - =The Bath Road=: History, Fashion, and Frivolity on an Old - Highway. - - =The Exeter Road=: The Story of the West of England Highway. - - =The Great North Road=: The Old Mail Road to Scotland. Two Vols. - - =The Norwich Road=: An East Anglian Highway. - - =The Holyhead Road=: The Mail-Coach Road to Dublin. Two Vols. - - =The Cambridge, Ely, and King's Lynn Road=: The Great Fenland - Highway. - - =The Newmarket, Bury, Thetford, and Cromer Road=: Sport and - History on an East Anglian Turnpike. - - =The Oxford, Gloucester, and Milford Haven Road=: The Ready Way - to South Wales. Two Vols. - - =The Brighton Road=: Speed, Sport, and History on the Classic - Highway. - - =The Hastings Road= and the "Happy Springs of Tunbridge." - - =Cycle Rides Round London.= - - =A Practical Handbook of Drawing for Modern Methods of - Reproduction.= - - =Stage Coach and Mail in Days of Yore.= Two Vols. - - =The Ingoldsby Country=: Literary Landmarks of "The Ingoldsby - Legends." - - =The Hardy Country=: Literary Landmarks of the Wessex Novels. - - =The Dorset Coast.= - - =The South Devon Coast.= - - =The North Devon Coast.= - - =The Old Inns of Old England.= Two Vols. - - =Love in the Harbour=: a Longshore Comedy. - - =Rural Nooks Round London= (Middlesex and Surrey). - - =The Manchester and Glasgow Road=; This way to Gretna Green. Two - Vols. - - =Haunted Houses=; Tales of the Supernatural. - - =The Somerset Coast.= [_In the Press._] - - - - -[Illustration: - - _I walke the_ Strand, _and_ Westminster; _and scorne - to march i'th'_ Cittie, _though I beare the_ Horne. - _My_ Feather, _and my yellow_ Band _accord - to proue me_ Courtier: _My_ Boote, Spurr, _and sword_ - - _My smokinge_ Pipe, Scarfe, Garter, Rose _on shoe; - showe my brave minde t'affect what_ Gallants _doe. - I singe, dance, drinke, and merrily passe the day, - and like a Chimney sweepe all care away_ - - MULLED SACK.] - - - - - HALF-HOURS WITH - THE HIGHWAYMEN - - - _PICTURESQUE BIOGRAPHIES AND - TRADITIONS OF THE "KNIGHTS - OF THE ROAD"_ - - - BY CHARLES G. HARPER - - - VOL. I - - [Illustration: [++] Man on Horseback.] - - - _Illustrated by Paul Hardy and by the Author, and - from Old Prints_ - - - LONDON - - CHAPMAN & HALL, LIMITED - - 1908 - - - _All rights reserved_ - - - - - PRINTED AND BOUND BY - HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD., - LONDON AND AYLESBURY. - - - - -[Illustration: [++] Two Men on Horseback.] - - - - -Preface - - -_In a series of books designed to tell the story of the roads, and -not only of the roads, but of all subjects connected with road-travel -in all ages, a book on the Highwaymen was sooner or later inevitable. -We have had in this series the story of the rise and progress towards -perfection of coaching, and of the decay of stage-coach and mail when -the era of steam came in; and we have had two volumes on the Old Inns -of Old England, to which the travellers of a bygone age came, wearied, -when the day's tedious travel was done. The story of the highwaymen, -who robbed those travellers, is now told, for the first time since -Captain Alexander Smith in 1719-20, in three small octavo volumes, -and Captain Charles Johnson in 1742, in one folio volume, collated -the numerous chapbooks and "last dying speeches and confessions" of -that and earlier ages. Captain Johnson, who stole extensively from -Smith, who himself was prone to include the most extravagant myths in -his pages, calls his folio A GENERAL AND TRUE HISTORY OF THE LIVES AND -ACTIONS OF THE MOST FAMOUS HIGHWAYMEN. Both of them include pirates and -murderers. Of the "truth" of much in Smith and Johnson, the less said -the better._ - -_No one has ever reprinted those authors in their original -extravagance, or their grossness. It would be impossible; and, if -possible, it would not be entertaining. Nor has any one ever edited -them, or even written an independent history of the highwaymen. When we -consider how astonishingly popular those romances have ever been which -have had Claude Du Vall, and Turpin, and their like for heroes, this is -not a little surprising._ - -_Perhaps the task has been abandoned because of the difficulty—the -almost insuperable difficulty—of sifting fact from fiction, and because -of a chilling sense that it would be a thankless task to present -the highwayman as he really was: a fellow rarely heroic, generally -foul-mouthed and cruel, and often cowardly. No novelist would be likely -to thank the frank historian for this disservice; and I do not think -the historian who came to the subject in this cold scientific spirit -of a demonstrator in surgery would be widely read. Most of us like to -keep a few of the illusions we believed in when schoolboys. Scientific -historians have degraded many of our ancient heroes and exalted the -villains, for whom of old no mud was too thick and slab. Beliefs are -being assailed on every side. To abolish the traditional courtesy -of Claude Du Vall or the considerate conduct of Captain Hind would, -therefore, be strokes of the unkindest, and I have here attempted -no such iconoclasm. Even where I cannot believe, I have told the -tale—whenever it has been worth the telling—as it is found in criminal -trials, or in Smith or Johnson, and other old sources, decorously -stripped of much vile language. For really, where much that seems -incredible may be fully proved, and where the believable turns out not -rarely to be false, 'tis your only way._ - -_To continue the story of the highwaymen from Smith and Johnson down -to the approaching end of all such things in the beginning of the -nineteenth century, is like taking up and concluding a half-told tale. -But it was worth the doing. Only in respect of the great figure Turpin -has always made, has it been found really necessary to seriously -consider and re-state the career of that much-overrated scoundrel, and -to put him in his proper place: a very much lower one than he usually -occupies._ - -_Hero-worshippers of the highwaymen we cannot be; as thorough -disbelievers of their picturesque exploits we dare not pose: for the -rest, the proper spirit in which to treat the subject is that of ironic -tolerance._ - - CHARLES G. HARPER. - - PETERSHAM, - SURREY, - _October 1908_. - - - - -CONTENTS - - - CHAPTER PAGE - - I. INTRODUCTORY: THE GENERAL DECLENSION FROM OUTLAW TO - HIGHWAYMAN, AND THENCE TO FOOTPAD, THIEF, AND BURGLAR—GAMALIEL - RATSEY—THOMAS DUN, OF DUNSTABLE 1 - - II. ROBIN HOOD AND HIS MERRY MEN 23 - - III. THE "HAND OF GLORY"—LIABILITY OF COUNTRY DISTRICTS FOR - ROBBERIES—EXEMPTION IN RESPECT OF SUNDAY TRAVELLING 49 - - IV. THE YOUNGER SONS—JUDGE POPHAM—SHAKESPEAREAN HIGHWAYMEN—THE - "CAVALIER" BRIGANDS—A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY RELIGIOUS TRACT 62 - - V. ENORMOUS CAPTURES MADE BY HIGHWAY GANGS—BRACY'S GANG—ROBBERIES - ON THE ROAD TO NEWMARKET—ADVERTISEMENTS OF THE PERIOD—AUGUSTIN - KING—PLUNDER AND BATTLE ON THE ST. ALBANS ROAD—SOLDIERS AS - HIGHWAYMEN 75 - - VI. "WHO GOES HOME?" IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS—FOOTMEN TURN - HIGHWAYMEN—SIR SIMON CLARKE—A MERRY FREAK AND ITS TRAGICAL - CONSEQUENCES—AMAZING POLTROONERY OF TRAVELLERS—ADVERTISEMENTS OF - THE PERIOD—HIGHWAY ROBBERY IN PICCADILLY 92 - - VII. THE HIGHWAYMEN OF WILTSHIRE AND SALISBURY PLAIN—MR. JOSEPH - READER'S ADVENTURE—THE CHERHILL GANG—"CLIBBORN'S POST"—MURDER OF - MR. MELLISH—CLOSE OF THE HIGHWAYMAN ERA 114 - - VIII. THE LITERATURE OF THE LATER HIGHWAYMEN 124 - - IX. THE NEWGATE CHAPLAINS: SAMUEL SMITH, PAUL LORRAIN, THOMAS - PURENEY—THE PRISON LIFE 131 - - X. THE WATCHMAN, AND THE EXECUTION BELL OF ST. SEPULCHRE 148 - - XI. HANGMAN'S HIGHWAY: THE ROAD TO TYBURN 156 - - XII. THE WAYSIDE GIBBETS 199 - - XIII. THE ROADS OUT OF LONDON: - I. The Dover Road 213 - II. The Bath Road 221 - - XIV. THE ROADS OUT OF LONDON (_continued_): - III. The Great North Road 245 - IV. The Oxford Road 255 - - MOLL CUTPURSE: THE "ROARING GIRL" 262 - - CAPTAIN PHILIP STAFFORD 269 - - CAPTAIN JAMES HIND, THE "PRINCE OF PRIGS" 273 - - JOHN CLAVEL, "GENTLEMAN" 307 - - WILLIAM DAVIS, THE GOLDEN FARMER 317 - - THOMAS SIMPSON: "OLD MOB" 333 - - CLAUDE DU VALL 342 - - FRANCIS JACKSON, AND HIS "RECANTATION" 356 - - CAPTAIN RICHARD DUDLEY 387 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - -SEPARATE PLATES - - PAGE - - MULLED SACK _Frontispiece_ - - THE FOOTPADS 4 - - ROBIN HOOD, UNDER THE GREENWOOD TREE 26 - - MARGARET OF ANJOU AND THE BANDIT 37 - - THE "HAND OF GLORY": BENEATH THE GALLOWS TREE 50 - - "OPEN LOCK, TO THE DEAD MAN'S KNOCK" 53 - - THE FIGHT IN NEEDWOOD FOREST 78 - - "WHO GOES HOME?" 93 - - SCANDALOUS SCENE AT A HERTFORD EXECUTION 143 - - THE BELLMAN 153 - - CLEVER TOM CLINCH GOING TO EXECUTION 169 - - AT THE "BOWL" 181 - - AN EXECUTION AT TYBURN 187 - - EXECUTION OF THE IDLE APPRENTICE AT TYBURN 188 - - QUEEN HENRIETTA MARIA PRAYING AT TYBURN 191 - - "THERE HE SWINGS BY THE ROADSIDE, IN HIS CAGE, IN A CONTEMPLATIVE - ATTITUDE, AS THOUGH PONDERING ON THE MYSTERIES OF LIFE AND DEATH" 210 - - FALSTAFF ON GAD'S HILL 218 - - EXCHANGE OF COMPLIMENTS 226 - - JOHN HAWKINS AND GEORGE SYMPSON ROBBING THE BRISTOL MAIL 235 - - MURDER OF MR. STEELE ON HOUNSLOW HEATH 243 - - SPIGGOTT PRESSED AT NEWGATE 253 - - "SHELLING THE PEAS" 261 - - MOLL CUTPURSE 262 - - ALLEN AND HIND ATTACK OLIVER CROMWELL'S CARRIAGE 281 - - HIND ROBS DR. PETERS 289 - - HIND SHOWS HIS DISGUISE 301 - - JOHN CLAVEL 311 - - THE GOLDEN FARMER AND THE TINKER 327 - - "OLD MOB" ROBS THE DUCHESS OF PORTSMOUTH 335 - - CLAUDE DU VALL DANCING THE CORANTO ON HOUNSLOW HEATH 348 - - THE FIGHT IN THE HOLLOW ROAD 360 - - CAPTAIN DUDLEY ON HOUNSLOW HEATH 388 - - CAPTAIN DUDLEY AND THE CLERGYMAN 392 - - -ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT - - "A Terrible and Seasonable Warning" 69 - - The End of Wild Robert 70 - - Dr. Newman and his Pills 107 - - Eighteenth-Century Advertisement 108 - - Lansdowne Passage 110 - - "Clibborn's Post" 119 - - Decorative Headpiece from Pureney's "Life and Confession of - Jonathan Wild and four other Malefactors" 139 - - The "Execution Bell," St. Sepulchre 155 - - The Road near Chester, 1675 200 - - Caxton Gibbet 202 - - Miles's Irons 211 - - The "True Protracture" of Captain Hind 274 - - "Here now thou seest me as a Butcher's Boy" 276 - - Captain Hind, the Cavalier Hero 284 - - "Next; here am I presented to thy view" 284 - - "Stand and Deliver! next in order comes" 287 - - "Behold! at last, the saddest sight of all" 301 - - Execution of the Golden Farmer 329 - - - - -[Illustration: [++] Image of a Highwayman.] - - -HALF-HOURS - -WITH THE - -HIGHWAYMEN - - - - -CHAPTER I - -INTRODUCTORY - -THE GENERAL DECLENSION FROM OUTLAW TO HIGHWAYMAN, AND THENCE TO -FOOTPAD, THIEF, AND BURGLAR—GAMALIEL RATSEY—THOMAS DUN, OF DUNSTABLE - - _O, there was never a life like the robber's, - So careless, and gay, and free. - And its end? why, a cheer from the crowd below, - And a leap from the leafless tree._ - - -Half-hours! In the days when the highwaymen flourished, and made travel -perilous for law-abiding persons, a five-minutes' interview with -one of these "Knights of the Road," who were but rarely knightly in -their manners, would have been more than sufficient. Travellers, who -had been violently abused, threatened, and robbed, did not observe -that atmosphere of romance about the highwaymen, with which, not only -modern times, but their own age, enwrapped them. The highwaymen have -ever been accounted romantic, as we shall see in these ensuing pages; -from the more or less mythical Robin Hood, down to the Carolean age of -Captain Hind, Swiftnicks, and Du Vall, whose exploits were followed -with interest and sympathy by their contemporaries. From a lengthy -study of these things, one fact rises prominently above all others: it -is the fact that the highwayman's only ceased to be a romantic figure -when he stopped and robbed one's self, under the usual circumstances -of coarse vituperation and personal indignity. On all other occasions, -although he commonly practised after nightfall, he paradoxically moved -in a rosy atmosphere, in company with the knightly figures of ancient -chivalry (who themselves, if the truth of it were told, would probably -be disclosed as a rather sordid crew). - -The thrilling romance—or the side-splitting humorous circumstances, as -the case might be—of one's acquaintance or next-door neighbour being -plundered, threatened with death at the pistol-muzzle, and then, with -his very coat stripped off his back, being bidden make haste away, is -obvious enough, and the highwayman who did all the threatening and -the plundering is easily seen to be at once a hero and a humorist; -but when he met yourself in the darkling lane, and had your purse, -your coat, and your gold watch, and d——d you because you did not carry -more wealth, and so make it better worth the while of a gentleman like -himself to be out upon the roads at such unconscionable hours—why, then -he was a rogue of the most debased description, and the occasion was -not so much humorous as tragical; while, as for Romance: what sickly -cant is this? Where are the patrol? What are the peace-officers doing, -to earn their pay? Is this a civilised country? - -We shall see in these pages the fine flower and the gradual declension -of the highwaymen: shall trace the mythical and the almost wholly -imaginary figures to the time when, under Charles the First and the -Commonwealth, it was difficult to tell where the Cavalier ended and -the highwayman began; and shall thence come, by way of the disbanded -troopers, who turned highway robbers in William the Third's reign, -to that curious age when there was an even chance that the armed and -mounted man who bade you "Stand and deliver!" was a baronet, or a -footman out of place, turned gentleman of the road to support the vices -he had learned of his masters. - -From the middle of the eighteenth century, to its close—the era of -Maclaine and Sixteen String Jack, the art of highway robbery becomes -less idealised. There is more police-court about it, and less hazy -glamour. Beau Brocade is a fine figure, well-dressed and splendidly -mounted, on the heath, but in the dock at Bow Street, and later at the -Old Bailey, he never showed to advantage, Sixteen String Jack excepted, -with his pea-green coat and his bouquet, as big as a cabbage. And as -the eighteenth century closed and gave place to the nineteenth, the -mounted highwayman gradually disappeared, and the footpad, a miserable, -muddy, cowardly figure, for whom no one ever had a good word, is seen -in his dark lurk, in the wayside ditch, not often courageous enough -to work alone, and generally found in couples, ready perhaps with the -suffocating pitch-plasters that so terrified the wayfarers of that time. - -The footpad never had the slightest inkling of romance, and was always -brutal, whether he clapped that pitch-plaster over your mouth, or -terrified you, or finished off his examination of your pockets by -knocking you down and jumping on your body. A far cry, indeed, from the -generous days of Captain Hind, or Claude Du Vall. - -No one would ever contemplate a work on "Half-Hours with the Footpads." -It would be to introduce the reader into the very worst of society, and -the least entertaining; and so we come by degrees to the present era of -the housebreakers and the newspaper records, where you may seek romance -if you will. - -[Illustration: THE FOOTPADS.] - -The history of the highwaymen is a lengthy emergence from ancient -fables and marvellous rustic folklore, to more settled records. It is -not peculiar in that gradual development. Such is the evolution of -all history. But that of the highwaymen begins with the giants and the -heroes, continued down through the legendary period of Robin Hood, to -the times of the Civil War in England, between King Charles and his -Parliament, when highway robbers cloaked their villainies with Royalist -partisanship, to the less romantic eighteenth century, and finally -ended, early in the nineteenth century, with all the glamour and -tinselled things of the past, in squalid, commonplace circumstances. -The highwaymen begin in the dimness of antiquity, continue very largely -as heroic myths throughout the middle ages, become philanthropic and -chivalric figures in succeeding eras, and later are seen to be mere -masquerading footmen, brave only in their masters' fine clothes, -seeking money wherewith to gamble and to live dissolute lives. They -end, sordid, mud-splashed figures, from which romance shrinks; in no -detail distinguishable from such vermin as the footpads, who on dark -nights robbed women and children, and defenceless old men, for coppers -in solitary lanes, and fled in terror from the robust. - -When the profession of highwayman became extinct, those of pickpocket, -card-sharper, and burglar were greatly reinforced. Some severe censors -of modern times declare that the Joint Stock and Limited Liability -Acts were passed in the interest of the classes in whose veins the -highwayman blood flowed, and whose instincts could not, in the altered -conditions of life, find expression on the road. As company promoters -of the Whitaker Wright and Jabez Balfour type, it has been said, these -providential enactments enabled them to satisfy their natural leanings. -And so the old world journeys down the ringing grooves of change, even -as Tennyson desired it should do, though perhaps not on the exact lines -of his thoughts. - -There are no heroes in these days; or, at the most of it, the hero of -to-day, beslavered with overmuch praise, is discovered to-morrow to be -a greatly overrated person, not so heroic as ourselves, if the truth -were known and every one had his due. - -The very last hero in the records of these allied criminal enterprises -was Charles Peace, the burglar, who was hanged February 25th, 1879, for -the murder (not in the way of his business), of Mr. Dyson, at Banner -Cross, near Sheffield, on November 29th, 1876. - -There can be no doubt that "Charley," as the police themselves almost -affectionately called him, would in a more favourable era have been a -highwayman. He had the instincts for the career, and was undoubtedly -courageous enough, resourceful enough, and sufficiently equipped with -what passed for wit and humour to have shone with no dim light, even -in such days as those of Hind and Du Vall. He was not a hero, and the -age insisted that he should ply a less respected craft than that of the -highwayman, but he could have risen to such an occasion on the road, -and perhaps because the public dimly saw as much, he figures in the -imagination less as the armed midnight burglar he was, ready in cold -blood to shoot down any one who stood in his way, than as a wonderfully -daring and skilful adventurer, whose known exploits and whose -legendary doings—for legends have accumulated around his well-known -and ascertained career—can stir the pulse and heat the imagination. -He was well-equipped even in the accident of his name. The heathen -gods themselves might have laughed in their heavens—for humour was -appreciated among the Olympians—at the sardonic jest of one named Peace -prowling at dead of night, armed with a six-chambered revolver, ready -and willing to slay those who should bar his path. And then how fine -his gauge of the average intelligence, which even nowadays does not -often range beyond that primitive conception of the typical burglar, in -which he is pictured in the ankle-jacks, the breeches, the velveteen -coat, and the moleskin cap of Bill Sikes. He saw _that_ was the mental -picture the British public cherished of gentlemen of his trade, and he -took his cue therefrom, posing as an independent gentleman. It mattered -little that his physiognomy actually reproduced the Bill Sikes head and -face, with remarkable closeness; he dressed well, talked well, lived -in nicely furnished houses in respectable neighbourhoods, and—last and -clinching sign of respectability—he kept a horse and trap. - -Until his arrest on the night of November 17th, 1878, in the act -of committing a burglary at St. John's Park, Blackheath, he was a -respected villa resident, who had a liking for art, a great fondness -for music, and, in general, cultivated tastes. There was no reason, -except such reason or such elements of chance, as may be found in the -busy conduct of his trade, why he should ever have been caught. He -burgled as cleverly as he lived; and had too much sense to work in -company. Keeping his own counsel, and working alone, he was quite sure -no pal would betray him. - -His impudent assurance is well displayed in the authentic and -well-known anecdote of his offering a choice cigar from among some he -had looted, to a tradesman well acquainted with him. He entered the -Peckham chemist's shop, made a purchase, passed the time o' day, and -offered him his cigar-case. The shopkeeper took one, and later smoked -it with great satisfaction. - -When next Peace entered the shop, the shopkeeper said: "That was a fine -cigar, sir, you gave me the other day." - -"Yes," replied Peace, "they _are_ good. I can't afford to buy, so I -steal them." - -"Do you?" rejoined the man, with a laugh at the absurdity of such a -statement from a customer so apparently respectable as Peace; "I wish, -then, you would steal me some more." - -"I will!" said Peace; and he did. He had the effrontery to again burgle -the place whence his original supply had come. - -"Here," he said in a day or two, giving the shopkeeper a box full, -"are the cigars I promised to steal for you." The delighted recipient -thought how exquisitely his customer's kindness and humour blended. - -There is nothing neater in all the history of highwaymen than this -anecdote, twinkling brightly amid the matter-of-fact records of a -degenerate day. - -There is plentiful evidence that when Captain Alexander Smith in -1719-20 wrote and published his work upon the highwaymen and other -evil-doers, he based his book upon the many chapbooks and broadsides -then in existence. Many of them may even now be found by those who do -not mind searching for them, but whether they will repay the trouble -is quite another matter. He includes in his gallery even Robin Hood -and Sir John Falstaff; and, not concerned to point out their legendary -or merely literary character, gives an exact (though necessarily not a -truthful) biography of each. - -Several editions of Smith exist; some in three, others in two volumes. -The title-pages vary largely, but all are extremely lengthy, and so -curious that it is well worth while to reproduce one as on the next -page. - - A Compleat - - HISTORY - - of the - - LIVES AND ROBBERIES - - of the most Notorious - Highway-Men, Foot-Pads, Shop-Lifts, - and Cheats of both Sexes, in and about - _London_ and _Westminster_, and all Parts of - _Great Britain_, for above an Hundred Years - past, continu'd to the present Time. - - Wherein their most Secret and Barbarous Murders, - Unparalell'd Robberies, Notorious Thefts, - and Unheard of Cheats, are set in a true Light, - and Expos'd to publick View, for the common - Benefit of Mankind. - - - To which is prefix'd, - The Thieves New Canting-Dictionary, - Explaining the most mysterious Words, - New Terms, Significant Phrases, and Proper - Idioms, used at this present Time by - our Modern Thieves. - - - By Capt. ALEX. SMITH. - - - The Fifth Edition (adorn'd with Cuts) with the Addition - of near Two Hundred Robberies lately committed. - - - In Two Volumes. - - - _London._ Printed for Sam. Briscoe, and sold by - _A. Dodd_ at the _Peacock_ without _Temple-Bar_, 1719. - -Captain Alexander Smith took an immense delight in his villains. You -cannot fail to perceive, if you read his book, that his only contempt -was for a bungler in the art. Royalist to the heart's core of him, he -expends his most loving labours upon the freebooters who displayed his -own political bias, and there can be little doubt that, while they -did the robbing, it is the eloquence of Smith himself that supplies the -embittered harangues, which the victims of Captain Hind, of Stafford, -and of many another in his pages are supposed to endure. Nay, Smith -enriches the career of many a Royalist highwayman with incidents those -gallant fellows were entire strangers to; and himself robs (in the mere -narration of pen, ink, and the printed page) prominent Puritans, who in -actual life were assuredly never "held up" on the road. - -The convention of disapproval of his heroes' villainies sits very -lightly upon Alexander Smith. He pays that merest homage to virtue, but -then starts rollicking through the biographies of the highwaymen with -an unmistakable gusto. His table of comparative sinfulness is an oddity -in itself. He says, ".... we have given them Precedency according as -they excelled one another in Villainy. In their general Character the -Reader will find the most unaccountable Relations of irregular Actions -as ever were heard; penn'd all from their own Mouths, not borrow'd -from the Account given of Malefactors by any of the Ordinaries of -Newgate...." - -He then continues, not very convincingly: "If we have here and there -brought in some of these wicked Offenders venting a prophane Oath or -curse, which is dash'd" (much is left to the imagination in a ——) "it -is to paint them in their proper Colours; whose Words are always so -odious, detestable, and foul, that some (as little acquainted with a -God as they) would be apt to conclude that Nature spoil'd them in the -Making, by setting their Mouths at the wrong end of their Bodies." - -Sir John Falstaff strangely comes first in this Valhalla. Who ever, -loving the Shakespearian Falstaff, would have expected him to be -exalted on this particularly bad eminence, over the heads of the -several atrocious murderers Smith does not scruple to include in his -pages? - -Johnson, Smith's copyist of twenty years later, like his precursor, -boggles at no marvellous tale. They knew the temper of their times and -worked in accord with it. Why be a critic in an uncritical age? - -There were poets before Homer, but by all accounts they were a sorry -lot; and there were biographers of highwaymen before Alexander Smith, -but for the most part their works are deadly dull. They had excellent -materials, but did not know how to handle them. Shakespeare alone, in -the scenes on Gad's Hill with Falstaff and Prince Hal and the men in -buckram, knew the way, and all London laughed with him at those merry -adventures; but such tiresome productions as the _Life and Death of -Gamaliel Ratsey_, published in 1605, continued to appear. - -That little work is typical. Gamaliel Ratsey—whether a real or -imaginary person I dare not say—appears by this publication to have -been "a famous thiefe in England, executed at Bedford the 26 of March -last past, 1605." Probably there was a Gamaliel Ratsey, highwayman, -hanged then and there; but the adventures related of him are almost -certainly inventions: well invented, but told without the slightest -scintilla of literary merit. Yet this ragbag stuff has figured in -reprints of "old English literature." So much the worse, then, for -Old English literature, if this be representative; or, more likely so -much the worse for the critical ability of those who considered it -worth disinterring on those grounds. It is not "literature," and not -representative of what old England could then produce in literature; -but it is valuable as one of the origins of the highwaymen legends. - -Gamaliel Ratsey, according to this publication, was born at Market -Deeping, in Lincolnshire, the son of a respected local gentleman, -one Richard Ratsey, who held a position in the service of a greater -gentleman: an esquire, probably, in the train of a nobleman. His -only son, Gamaliel, received a good education, but was of a roving -disposition and went over to Ireland and joined the army of occupation -there, under the Earl of Essex. He so distinguished himself, early in -those operations, that he was made sergeant. Soon after the death of -Queen Elizabeth, he returned to England with the Earl of Devonshire, -and went home to Market Deeping. At the not far distant town of -Spalding he began his filching career, by making use of the good terms -he enjoyed with the landlady of an inn to steal a bag containing £40 in -gold, which had been entrusted to her keeping by a farmer attending -the market. To convince Ratsey how trusted a person she was, she -foolishly showed where she had placed the bag; and as soon as her back -was turned he had taken it from the cupboard where it lay, and made off. - -When the farmer returned and wanted his money, there was the very deuce -to pay. He and the landlady went off to the nearest justice and swore -an information against Gamaliel, who was arrested and thrown into -prison, but not before he had found time to return home and bury the -bag in the garden. In confidence he told his mother where it was hid, -his mother told his sister, his sister told her husband, her husband -told his friends, and so at last the confession reached the ears of the -justices. Gamaliel would undoubtedly have been hanged on that occasion, -only he broke prison and escaped, clad only in his shirt. - -His further adventures with Snell and Shorthose, two companions of like -inclination, are in themselves amusing when reduced to less stilted -language than that of the _Life_. Curiously enough, one of these -incidents is concerned with the robbing of an actor, whom Ratsey bids -deliver his money first, and a scene from _Hamlet_ afterwards. So it -was not from any want of acquaintance with the best models that the -unnamed author of Ratsey's life failed to put life into his narrative. -The incident is treated in as dead and wooden a manner as the rest. - -A Cambridge scholar, robbed in similar manner, was bidden deliver a -learned thesis. We find almost exactly parallel stories in Smith and -Johnson. In those pages it is Sir Josselin (? Joscelin) Denville and -his numerous band of robbers, who, meeting a Benedictine monk in a -wood, make him preach a sermon in praise of thieving. Captain Dudley, -a hundred years or so later, is represented demanding a sermon from a -clergyman. - -More shadowy even than Robin Hood, is "Thomas Dun." We may be in some -reasonable doubt as to the validity of many incidents and biographies -in the pages of Smith and Johnson, but there is no possible doubt -whatever that the "Life of Thomas Dun" is what one of our own -eighteenth-century highwaymen and cutpurses would have called a "flam." -There was never a Thomas Dun, highwayman, bandit, and murderer, as -depicted in those classic pages; but the fact that he was a myth does -not prevent those painstaking authors from presenting us with a very -exact narrative of his deeds. - -The curious "moral reflection" prefaced to Thomas Dun's entirely -apocryphal adventures is itself worth reproducing. It says: "A -man who is not forced from necessity or a desire of pleasure to -become dishonest, but follows his natural dispositions in robbing -and maltreating others, will generally be found to be destitute of -every humane and generous principle. So will it be found with this -character—a person of mean extraction—who was born in Bedfordshire, -and who, even in childhood, was noted for his pilfering propensity and -the cruelty of his disposition." - -He lived, it seems, in the time of Henry the First, "and so many were -his atrocities," writes Johnson, "that we can only find limits for the -recital of a few." The limits were perhaps more accurately determined -by Johnson's own powers of invention. - -Johnson did not, of course, invent Thomas Dun. He is the child of the -ages. Equally with Robin Hood, every generation, until the decay of -folklore, added some new touch to him, and Johnson did but reduce him -to print, add a little more, and shape him out of the somewhat formless -but threatening figure he presented. - -There is this much basis for him: that, on the site of the town of -Dunstable, and for some distance along the Holyhead Road in that -direction, there extended, from Saxon times until the reign of Henry -the First, a dense thicket of scrub woods, overgrowing the ancient -ruins of the Roman station of _Durocobrivæ_. From the time of the -Norman conquest the neighbourhood had been infested with robbers, and -it was to drive them out and establish some sort of order that the king -had clearings made in the woods that afforded such safe harbourage for -outlaws. Under Royal encouragement a new town was founded, and in 1131 -given, with the rights of market, to a priory that had been founded -in the meanwhile. The King himself had a residence at "Dunstaplia," -as the town was named, _i.e._ the "hill-staple" or market, and his -successors were often there. The wool market was the most important -at Dunstable; the monks long maintaining great flocks of sheep on the -adjacent downs. - -The robbers became only a memory, but a memory that never faded. It -merely took on another form, and in the course of time the name of the -town itself was twisted into an allusion to them and to their leader. -It needed the collusion of gross ignorance and wild legend to effect -so much, but the thing was done; and for centuries Dunstable was, and -perhaps even now is, locally said to owe its name to "Dun's Stable," a -hollow in the chalk downs, pointed out as having been the place where -"Dun," the entirely imaginary leader of the outlaws, stabled his horse. -If you doubt this there is the town seal to convince the sceptical, -showing as it does what is said to be a horseshoe (a shoe of Dun's -horse!), but is really intended for a staple or hasp. - -The legendary Dun was a kind of bogey to the children of the -neighbourhood, and in Johnson's pages is a most blood-thirsty creature. -There we read that his first exploit was on the highway to Bedford, -where he met a waggon full of corn, going to market, drawn by a -fine team of horses. He accosted the waggoner, and in the midst of -conversation stabbed him to the heart with a dagger. He buried the -body, and drove the waggon off to the town, where he sold the corn and -the waggon as well, and then disappeared! - -Dun had a great animosity to lawyers (or, rather, the authors of the -legends worked into them their own dislike of the legal profession, and -it is curious to note how this runs, like a thread, throughout all the -fabric of highwaymen stories), and, hearing that some were to dine at -a certain inn at Bedford, went hurriedly into the house about an hour -before the appointed time, and desired the landlord to hasten with the -dinner, and to provide for ten or twelve. The company soon arrived, -and while the lawyers thought Dun a servant of the inn, the innkeeper -thought him an attendant of the lawyers. He bustled about, and on the -bill being called for, collected the amount, and walked off with it. -The company, tired of waiting for him to return with their change, rang -the bell for it, and then discovered him to be an impostor. And the -hats and cloaks and the silver spoons had gone too. - -Dun became such a terror, that the sheriff of Bedford assembled a -considerable force to attack him and his band. But Dun, finding -his own men to equal, if not actually to outnumber, those sent -against him, assumed the offensive, and, furiously attacking the -sheriff's expedition, routed it and took eleven prisoners, whom he -hanged upon trees in the woods, by way of a hint how rash a thing it -was to interfere with him. Removing the prisoners' clothing, they -dressed themselves in it, and forming a plan to rob the castle of -a neighbouring nobleman, appeared before it in the uniform of the -sheriff's men and demanded admission, "to search for Dun." Failing to -find him, they requested all the keys of the place, to make a narrower -search, and so looted many costly articles. Upon a complaint being -lodged with the sheriff, the ruse was belatedly discovered. - -It would be wearisome to follow all the fables that tell of Dun's -twenty years' bloodstained progress to the scaffold. There is this much -to be said in commendation of the popular legends of bandits: that when -they are shown to be really bad, without redeeming traits, the legends -duly see to it that justice is satisfied. And so with Dun, who is made -to end disastrously at Bedford, even without the advantage of a formal -trial. "When two executioners approached him he warned them of their -danger if they should lay hands on him," and when they insisted upon -doing so he struggled with them so successfully that he flung them -nine times upon the scaffold, before his strength gave way. The crowds -who gloated horribly over executions at Tyburn and elsewhere never had -so great a treat as pictured in this fictitious scene: but this was -merely the appetiser, the anchovies, so to speak, before the more solid -course. Better was to follow. - -The original executioners having been put out of action by Dun's -violence, reinforcements were brought to bear, and did their business -very effectually. "His hands were first chopped off at the wrist; then -his arms at the elbows; next, about an inch from the shoulders; his -feet below the ankles; his legs at the knees; and his thighs about -five inches from the trunk. The horrible scene was then concluded by -severing his head from the body, and consuming it to ashes. The other -portions were set up in the principal places of Bedfordshire." - -This by no means pretty ending, when told to children, terrified them -more than all the terrific deeds attributed to Dun himself, and often -woke them at night, screaming. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -ROBIN HOOD AND HIS MERRY MEN - - _Bold Robin Hood - Was a forester good - As ever stepped in - The merry greenwood._ - - -The mythical Thomas Dun's redeeming qualities, supposing him, indeed, -to have possessed any, are not set forth in those legends of him. He is -a blackguard shape; while the equally legendary Robin Hood is one of -the brightest figures of romance. - -Robin Hood is a poor man's hero, and has been, for over seven -centuries, to the peasantry of England something of what King Arthur -was to the nobles and the aristocracy. While Arthur was, and is some -day again to be, the national hero in the larger issues of war and -conquest, Robin remains the lion-hearted outlaw; warring from his -boskage in the greenwood of Sherwood Forest, or Barnsdale, against the -rich oppressors of the people, whether they be the nobles or the fat -ecclesiastics of mediæval satire. - -Many industrious writers have sought to reduce the Robin Hood myths -to a connected whole, and to trace their origin, but the task has -proved hopeless. He is as pervasive as the winds, and came whence no -one knows, but may be traced back to the reign of Edward the Second, -when he was already fully established as a ballad hero. Ritson, who -collected and edited the ancient literature referring to him, is of -opinion that he was a real person, Robert Fitzooth, and was born -at Locksley, in Nottinghamshire, in 1160. But no evidence settles -that point, and it is abundantly possible that he was really evolved -from dim memories of Hereward the Wake, the Saxon hero, who long -withstood William the Norman in the fens of Ely. In course of time his -championship of a conquered nation was lost sight of, and merged into -the endearing character of an English yeoman, outlawed for debt, taking -refuge with others of his kin in the forest, whence they levied toll -upon the oppressor, and, as they themselves were outlawed, respected no -law, save that of the greenwood, where the best man was he who could -draw the stoutest bow and shoot the straightest; who could make the -best play with that truly English weapon, the quarter-staff, or deal -the mightiest blow with the fist. - -The whole cycle of Robin Hood legend is delightfully and most -characteristically English, instinct with the purest and most -passionate love of the countryside, and nerved with the championship -of manhood's rights and with the fiercest hatred of the law and of -the ruling classes in days when laws were the repressive measures -instituted by the wealthy for the purpose of denying simple justice to -the poor. The hatred of authority and the armed resistance to it, that -are the leading features of Robin Hood legend, are no mere criminal -traits, but violent protests (the only kind of protest then possible) -against the bloody forest laws of the Norman and Plantagenet times, -and the system by which the peasantry were serfs, with no more social -rights than the negroes enjoyed before their emancipation in 1833. - -Robin Hood legend was for centuries the expression of what might now -be styled Liberal, or even Radical, or Socialist opinion, but it has -an innate poetry and chivalry which those modern schools of thought -conspicuously lack; and indeed, as personal liberty broadened, so did -the legends of this splendid figure of romance become blunted and -vulgarised in the countryside, until he is made interchangeable with -the highwaymen who had only their own pockets to fill and no cause to -represent. - -How popular and how astonishingly widespread was the story of Robin -Hood, we may readily guess from the many places or natural objects -named after him. "Robin Hood's Butts" on the racecourse near Onibury, -a mile and a half from Ludlow, are still pointed out. They are in the -nature of sepulchral barrows. From there, says legend, Robin Hood -shot an arrow that sped the mile and a half to Ludlow church, and -fixed itself on the apex of the gable of the north transept! An arrow -is certainly there, but Robin never shot it. It is, in fact, an iron -likeness of an arrow, and is the sign of the guild of Fletchers, or -arrow-makers, who built the transept. - -There are other "Robin Hood's Butts" in the country: his "Cairns" on -the Blackdown Hills in Somerset; "Robin Hood's Bay," on the Yorkshire -Coast; his "Barrows," near Whitby; "Robin Hood's Tor," near Matlock; -boundary-stones in Lincolnshire, known as "Robin Hood's Crosses"; -a large logan-stone in Yorkshire, styled his "Penny Stone"; a -fountain near Nottingham that figures as his; "Robin Hood's Well," -between Doncaster and Wetherby; "Robin Hood's Stable," a cave in -Nottinghamshire; a natural rock in Hopedale, Derbyshire, known as -his "Chair"; his "Leap," a chasm at Chatsworth. A number of ancient -oaks are "Robin Hood's," and legends of his exploits still cling -to Skelbrooke Park, Plumpton Park, Cumberland, Feckenham Forest, -Worcestershire, and the forests of Sherwood, Barnsdale, Needwood, and -Inglewood. - -The forest of Inglewood, in Cumberland, is indeed associated with other -outlaws as legendary as Robin himself or as that Irish figure of wild -romance, "Rory o' the Hills." Andrew Bel, William of Cloudisdale, and -Clym o' th' Clough are the great woodland triumvirate of the north. - -[Illustration: ROBIN HOOD, UNDER THE GREENWOOD TREE.] - -It would be a thankless office to dwell greatly upon the probability -that Robin Hood, as an individual person, never existed, and that he -was perhaps not even typical of the woodland outlaws of old, whose -ideas and practices doubtless fell far short of the ballad Robin's -ideals. It is much more pleasant to consider the romantic spirit -that evolved him and gave him his exquisite setting of mossy glades -and giant oaks, where the sun comes in golden-green shafts through the -embowering foliage, and you hear the winding of the hunters' horns in -chase of the deer. There is a springtime gladness in the old verses, of -which this is typical: - - Whan shaws bene sheene and shroddes full fayre, - And leaves both large and longe, - Itt's merry walking in the fayre forrist - To hear the small birdes songe. - - To se the dere draw to the dale, - And leve the hillës hee, - And shadow hem in the levës grene, - Under the grene-wode tre. - -It is the springtime of the year and of the English nation that you -glimpse in these lines; a picture of that larger rural England of -possible adventure, and uncontaminated skies that is now a thing of the -past. - -Nature is portrayed in these ballads with a vividness and certainty -that more ambitious poets cannot match: - - The woodweele sang and wold not cease, - Sitting upon the spraye, - Soe lowde, he wakened Robin Hood, - In the greenwood where he lay. - -It is versification of the simplest and the most sincere kind. - -Robin Hood, real or imaginary character, has himself no criminal taint, -but he is one of the original founts whence the stream of highwayman -legend is fed. It does not, or should not, sully his fame, that the -stream becomes polluted with much vileness as it flows down the channel -of time. A gradual vulgarising of the beautiful old story of the manly -outlaws in Lincoln green, who went on foot and chased and shot the -deer, and redressed wrongs in the leafy coverts, is sadly to be noted; -and by the middle of the eighteenth century it became so obscured that -it was possible for one of the booksellers of the time to foist upon an -undiscriminating public an absurd production, in which Robin and the -seventeenth-century Captain Hind figure as contemporaries. The poor -threadbare rags of chivalry are thrown over the recreant shoulders -of the highwaymen, but they suit them ill; and the fine clothes the -highwaymen sometimes wore and the excellent horses they rode, do not -hide from us their essential coarseness. - -When Langland's _Vision of Piers Plowman_ was written, about 1362, -Robin Hood long had been a popular figure; and in that wonderful -descriptive poem we find, among those lifelike figures, Sloth, the -priest, who confesses himself ignorant of hymns of the Saviour and the -Virgin, and unable even to repeat his paternoster; "but," he says, "I -can ryme of Robin Hode." - -That confession would scarce have pleased the real Robin, who was an -exceedingly religious man. In the oldest ballad surviving of him, he -is found lamenting that he has not been to mass for a fortnight, and -he thereupon, at great risk, goes to Nottingham town, to repair the -omission. He especially venerated the Virgin, and is in one ballad -found to be so extremely devoted to his religious duties as to have -three masses daily, before dinner. - -At the same time, although he is found declaring to his band that no -damage is to be done to any husbandman "that tylleth with his plough," -nor to any good yeoman, nor to any knight or squire "that wolde be a -good felowe," he delights in persecuting ecclesiastical dignitaries. A -fat abbot, or a steward of a monastery, unlucky enough to fall in with -him, has a weary time of it. The higher these personages, the worse -the treatment meted out to them. "Ye shall then beat and bind," we -find Robin directing his merry men; and as these ballads were but the -essence of the public feeling of the age, it is quite evident that when -at last Henry the Eighth made away with the monasteries, he must have -had a very considerable and long-established force of popular sentiment -entirely in accord with him. - -One of the chief exploits of Robin with the dignified clergy was the -traditional meeting with the Bishop of Hereford, in Skelbrooke Park, -where he was said to have made the Bishop dance round an oak, and then, -after plundering him, to have left him bound securely to the tree. -Variations of the story are met with in plenty in legends of other -outlaws and highwaymen. - -That the Robin Hood legends impelled other romantic souls to take to -the woodlands and be also Robin Hoods, in admiring imitation, seems -sufficiently evident from old records, of which the Derbyshire petition -to Parliament in 1439 is typical. The petitioners solicited help to -procure the arrest of a certain Piers Venables and others who, it is -stated, "wente into the wodes like as it hadde be Robyn-hode and his -meyne." - -Nottingham was ever a town inimical to our Robin; probably because it -was nearest to his haunts in Sherwood Forest. In the earliest ballad -extant of his exploits, we learn how, going piously into the town for -the feast of Pentecost, he met an old monk whom he had once robbed of -£100. The monk "betrays" him, and to prevent his escape the town gates -are closed. Robin, seeking to leave, is captured, after a desperate -resistance, and thrown into prison; and the false-hearted monk sets -out for London, to convey the welcome news to the King, who will be -delighted to learn that the bold outlaw is at last laid by the heels. - -But Little John and Much waylay the monk, and kill him and his little -page, and themselves, with the despatches, seek audience of the King, -who sends a command by them to the Sheriff of Nottingham, ordering him -to bring Robin Hood before him. - -Arriving at Nottingham, these bearers of the King's commands are -received with due honours and elaborately entertained. Finally, after -much feasting and drinking, and when the sheriff and his men are sunk -in a drunken sleep, Little John and Much steal their keys, kill the -gaoler, and release Robin Hood. Then they return happily to the forest. -The ballad ends by the pardon of Little John, in consideration of his -fidelity to his chief. - -Another ballad tells of the adventure of Robin and the potter. Meeting -an itinerant seller of earthenware pots, Robin challenges him to the -usual test of who is best man, a fight with quarter-staff. On this -occasion he meets his match and is badly beaten. But there was never -such a hungry man for a fight as our hero, and he then suggested a -combat with swords, in which he was also vanquished. Then he changes -clothes with the man of pots, buys his stock, and goes to Nottingham, -where he sells them at less than cost price and so makes a speedy -clearance of all but five. These he gives to the sheriff's wife, who -then invites him to dinner. At the dinner-table he hears of a trial -of skill at archery to be decided that afternoon, and attends and -surpasses all competitors. The sheriff asks him of whom he learned such -marvellous archery. "Of Robin Hood," he answered; and then the sheriff -expresses a wish to see the outlaw. The pretended potter then conducts -him into the depths of the forest and there blows a single blast upon -his horn. - -Immediately they are surrounded by Robin's own merry men, who compel -the sheriff to leave his horse and other gear; glad enough to get away -on any terms. Robin, however, courteously sends the sheriff's wife a -white palfrey that "ambles like the wind." - -Indeed, Robin was very much of a lady's man, and no outlaw worthy the -name of forester was ever else. They were all squires of dames, and in -this at least were equal, in theory at any rate, to the best "perfit -gentil knight" that ever wore a lady's kerchief. - -Courtesy to beauty in distress was ever one of the chiefest salves with -which bandits salved their self-respect. No sentence of outlawry could -make them rue, if to that principle they held them true. Even an outlaw -had his ideals: to play special providence, to succour the distressed, -to punish the oppressor, and "never to lay hands on a woman, save in -the way of kindness." There were, of course, many lapses from these -altitudes of conduct, but the ideal long remained, and only seems to -have greatly decayed in the eighteenth century. - -We have the historical instance of that adventure of the fugitive Queen -of Henry the Sixth, lost in 1459 in the wilds of Staffordshire, after -the disastrous battle of Blore Heath. Plying from that stricken field, -on horseback, with her son, the youthful Prince Edward and one only -retainer, the little party were surprised in the mountainous district -of Axe Edge by a band of robbers, who seized their money, jewels, and -every article of value. These savage men knew nothing of their rank, -save that they were obviously people of quality. Then the rogues fell -to quarrelling among themselves, as to the division of the spoil. -Menaces were growled out, and swords drawn. Margaret of Anjou, the -high-spirited Queen, seeing the bandits so engaged with each other, -took her son by the arm and hurried with him into an adjacent wood. - -[Illustration: MARGARET OF ANJOU AND THE BANDIT.] - -We hear no more of the solitary retainer. He seems to have left early. - -The Queen and her son had not gone far when they encountered another -outlaw. With the simple frankness of a great despair, she threw herself -and the young Prince upon his mercy. "Friend," said she, "I entrust to -your loyalty the son of your King." - -What a generous-hearted bandit could do, he did. Taking them under his -protection, he conducted them by secret and intricate ways into the -comparative safety of the Lancastrian headquarters. - -But to resume our Robin. The fate of Guy of Gisborne shows how rash -it was to attack our friend in Lincoln green, who was by no means so -green as he looked. Guy had sworn to apprehend the outlaw, and roamed -the forest in search of him, in a "capull hyde," which is said to -mean a horse's skin. Guy found him at last, with disastrous results -to himself, for Robin slew him and mangled his body with what is -particularly described as an "Irish knife." He then clothed himself -in the "capull hyde" and took his deceased enemy's horn, and went off -to Barnsdale, where his men, unknown to himself, had been in combat -with the sheriff's force, with the result that several were killed -and wounded on both sides. Robin's men had, however, the worst of the -fight, and Little John had been taken prisoner and bound fast to a tree. - -Robin, drawing near his men's haunts, blew a blast upon the horn he had -taken, and the sheriff, recognising the note, and thinking it was Guy -of Gisborne, come back victorious, went to meet him, with the result -that he and his force were taken, and Robin's men released. - -The many scattered ballads of Robin Hood that had long passed from -mouth to mouth were collected, edited, and printed about 1500 by Wynkyn -de Worde, under the title of _A Lytell Geste of Robyn Hode and his -meyne, and of the proude Sheryfe of Notyngham_. - -According to this, the home of Robin Hood was in Barnsdale, the -woodland tract between Doncaster and Pontefract. There Little John and -two companions waylay Sir Richard at the Lea, a knight passing through -the forest: a melancholy man, as sad as he of the Rueful Countenance. -He is not afraid to accompany the rovers to their master, for he has -little to lose. But Robin, far from ill-using, entertains him to a -sumptuous dinner, served (by what marvellous means we are not told) -in the merry greenwood. Such mediæval delicacies as swans, with, of -course, pheasants, smoke at the outlaw's spread. The feast being -concluded, the knight prepares to depart; but "Pay you, ere you wend!" -says Robin; "it was never the custom of a yeoman to pay for a knight." - -The knight, deeply humiliated, confessed he had but ten shillings. - -"Go search," commands Robin to Little John. "If, sir, you have no -more," he says to the knight, "I will not have a penny." - -The search confirmed the knight's words; and it then appeared that this -was a sorely stricken knight indeed. - -"For a hundred winters," he explains, his ancestors had been knights, -and until within the last two or three years he had possessed an income -of four hundred pounds a year, as his neighbours well knew. - -But his son was unlucky enough to kill a Lancashire knight, and a -squire as well, in a joust; and, to help pay the penalty of his son's -mishap, the father's goods had been "sette and solde," and his lands -pledged to the Abbot of St. Mary's, for four hundred pounds. The -day for repayment of this loan was close at hand, and the knight, -unprovided with money, already foresees his estate pass from him. - -Robin Hood then asks him, who would be the knight's surety, if he -advanced the sum. - -Alas! replies the knight, he is as badly in want of friends as of -money. He can offer no surety, save Our Lady, who had never failed him -before. - -In Robin Hood's way of thinking, no better surety could be found, -even if England were sought through and through; and the knight is -immediately provided, not only with money, but with clothes, a horse, -and a trusty squire, in the person of Little John. The whole band enter -deeply into their leader's feelings, and weep salt tears over the -knight's misfortunes, and themselves contribute liberally to supply his -needs. - -The second "fytte," or act, is placed at St. Mary's Abbey, on the day -of reckoning, and the abbot is introduced, chuckling at the absence -of the knight, and the probability of his lands being forfeited. The -prior entreats his superior to show a little pity, but his call for -moderation is scornfully rejected by the abbot, and by the cellarer, -a fatheaded monk of the type made familiar in modern German paintings -of tonsured voluptuaries eyeing tables full of food and stroking their -paunches. - -In midst of these proceedings, the knight enters, and humbly begs for -an extension of time; but the abbot insists on his bond, and will have, -and at once, either the money or the land. Then the high justice is -introduced, as moderator: - - "What will ye gyve more?" said the justice, - "And the knight shall make a release; - And elles dare I safly swere - Ye never hold your lande in pees." - - "An hundred pounde" sayd the Abbot; - The justice said "Give him two." - "Nay, be God! sayd the knight, - "Ye gete ye it not soo: - - "Though ye woulde gyve a thousande more, - Yet were ye never the nere; - Shall there never be myn eyre - Abbot, justyse, ne frere." - - He sterte hym to a borde anone, - Tyll a table rounde, - And there he shoke out of a bagge, - Even four hundred pounde. - -The debt thus paid, the knight takes leave of the disappointed abbot, -and "went hym forthe full merye syngynge, as men have told the tale." - -Living at home in retirement, he soon saves sufficient to get together -the sum that Robin had advanced; and then equips himself with a -splendid present of bows and arrows for the outlaw, and rides, with a -merry song and a light heart, to Barnsdale. - -The third fytte tells the adventures of Little John, who, straying -into Nottingham, attracts the attention of the sheriff by his skill -in archery, and enters into his service for one year, in the name of -Reynold Greenleaf. But in a little while, in the sheriff's absence, -Little John raises a quarrel in the house and runs away with the cook. -Together they go off to the greenwood, with the family plate, and ready -money, "three hundred pounds and three." Robin Hood receives them, -but they have not long returned when Little John plans to capture the -sheriff himself, on his way home. The seizure is easily made, and the -sheriff is taken to the foresters' camp, where supper is served to him -on his own plate. He is then stripped to his shirt and breeches, and -released the next morning, after being obliged to take an oath never to -lie in wait for Robin Hood, "by water, ne by londe," and if any of the -band fall into his custody, to help them to the best of his power. - -The fourth fytte opens with the cellarer of St. Mary's, travelling with -a large sum of money. He falls in with Robin and his men, but declares -he has only twenty marks. Little John, however, on searching him, -discovers eight hundred pounds; whereupon Robin Hood exclaims that the -money must be sent by Our Lady, who, with her accustomed goodness, had -doubled the sum he lent the knight. - -The monk is then bidden go his way, after refusing a parting glass; -vowing, with much truth, that he might have dined cheaper at Blyth or -Doncaster. The knight, at this moment, arrives with the money to repay -his loan. Robin accepts his presents, but will not take the money, as -Our Lady has just now paid it back, together with another four hundred -pounds, which he begs the knight to accept. - -The fifth fytte opens with the Sheriff of Nottingham proclaiming a -shooting match. Robin attends, and bears off the prize, but as he -leaves the town, the cry of "Robin Hood" is raised. "Great horns 'gan -they to blow"; the townsmen assemble, and a fight begins, in which -Little John is wounded in the knee, so that he can neither walk nor -ride. In this desperate pass, he entreats his captain to smite off his -head with his sword, so that he may not fall alive into the hands of -the enemy, but Robin indignantly refuses. Little Much takes him on his -back, and carries him off, halting from time to time to speed arrows -into the ranks of the pursuing sheriff's men. They then all escape -to the castle of their knightly friend, who, in the sixth fytte, is -waylaid, and carried off by the sheriff. - -The knight's lady then appeals to Robin Hood, who calls his men, and, -proceeding to Nottingham, slays the "proud Sheriff" and releases the -knight. - -In the seventh fytte we have the arrival of "our comely King," Edward -the Third, at Nottingham, come to inquire into a complaint the sheriff -had made against the knight for harbouring outlaws. The King, for a -whole year, endeavours to capture Robin or the knight, but has no sort -of success until a forester offers, if the King will assume the costume -of an abbot, to conduct him to the outlaws' retreat, "a mile under the -lynde"; _i.e._ in the midst of the lime-trees, or lindens. - -This offer is accepted, and Robin receives the pretended abbot with -unusual courtesy, taking but one-half of the forty pounds he offers for -ransom of himself. The "abbot" then produces a summons under the Royal -seal, inviting Robin to Nottingham "both to meat and meal." - -Robin goes down on bended knee before this august message, and -entertains the "abbot" in the best style, with venison and - - With good white bread and good red wine, - And therto fine ale brown. - -After dinner he entertains his guest at a shooting-match; the chief -condition being that whoever misses a rose-garland suspended between -two poles shall forfeit bow, arrows, and quiver, and submit to receive -a buffet on the head. - -Robin misses by three fingers and more, and the King is entitled to -inflict the penalty. He hesitates. "Smite boldly!" says Robin; "I give -thee large leave." - -Thus encouraged, the king, with one blow of his stalwart arm, makes -the outlaw reel. Such an exhibition of vigour was more convincing than -moral suasion, and Robin, perceiving that this is no abbot, but the -King himself, submits at once, with his men. The sovereign graciously -pardons them and invites them to London. - -The eighth fytte concludes the story. Robin and his men follow the King -to the Court; but within a year the love of the free and unconventional -forest had lured away all but Robin and two companions, and Robin -himself was sick to be gone. The finishing touch was the sight of a -gathering of young archers. - - "Alas! and well-a-way - If I dwell longer with the King, - Sorowe wyll me slay," - -says the sometime outlaw, longing to be a forester again. - -So he forswears the Court, and retires again to the forest. - -And there, the legends say, he lived as of old for twenty-two years; -until falling sick, he resorted to the priory of Kirklees, where a -kinswoman of his was prioress. After the medical fashion of the time, -the remedy was to be slightly bled; but the treacherous prioress, and -one Sir Roger of Doncaster, opened a vein by which he bled to death: -dying "from the perfidy of a woman," as had been prophesied. - -From the chamber in the gatehouse of the priory where he lay, he shot -his final arrow, his faithful Little John whom he had summoned by three -blasts of his horn, supporting him. The spot where the arrow fell was -to be his grave, and there Little John was to lay him, with his bow -bent by his side, a turf under his head, and another at his feet. The -old ballad of his affecting end piously concludes: - - Crist have mercy on his sowle - That dyed on the rood, - For he was a good outlawe - And dyde pore men much good. - -The railed-in spot where he, by tradition, lies buried had once, we are -told, a stone inscribed - - Near undernead dis laitl stean - laiz robert earl of Huntingtun - Nea arcir ver as hie sa geud - An pipl kauld im robin heud - sich outlawz az hi an iz men - vil england nivr si agen - Obijt 24 kal Dekembris, 1249. - -But this appears to have been the invention of Martin Parker, author -of the "True Tale" of the hero, c. 1632. It still, however, imposes -upon the credulous and supports the somewhat sweeping saying current in -Camden's time: "Tales of Robin Hood are good for fools." - -Wykyn de Worde's collection of Robin Hood romances is itself a proof of -the wide popularity the hero had always enjoyed, and did still enjoy; -but it does not stand alone as proof. In 1444 we hear a grumbling -voice speaking of Robin, Little John, Friar Tuck, and the others of -that immortal band, "of whom the foolish vulgar, in comedies and -tragedies, make entertainments, and are delighted to hear the jesters -and minstrels sing them, above all other ballads." - -A century later, none other than Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, -preaching before Edward the Sixth, bore unwilling testimony to Robin's -popularity with the masses: "I came once myself," he said, "to a place, -riding on a journey homeward from London, and I sent word overnight -into the town that I would preach there in the morning, because it -was a holyday.... I thought I should have found a great company in -the church, but when I came there, the church door was fast locked. I -tarried there half an hour and more, and at last the key was found; and -one of the parish comes to me, and says, 'Sir, this is a busy day with -us, we cannot hear you; it is Robin Hood's Day. The parishes are gone -abroad to gather for Robin Hood.' - -"I thought my rochet should have been regarded, though I were not," -added Latimer, plaintively; "but it would not serve; it, too, was fain -to give place to Robin Hood's men." - -Apparently at this point the congregation laughed, for we find him, -resuming, rather heatedly: "It is no laughing matter, my friends, -but rather a weeping matter, a heavy matter, under the pretence -of gathering for Robin Hood, a traitor, and a thief, to put out a -preacher, to have his office less esteemed, to prefer Robin Hood before -the preaching of God's Word." - -In 1601, when England was living under a recently reformed religion, -it became again necessary to reconstruct Robin Hood legend for popular -acceptance, and in a play, written by Anthony Munday and Henry Chettle, -he appears as the outlawed Earl of Huntingdon; a figure for which -there is not the slightest historical warranty. Thus the fabricated -"epitaph" at Kirklees must itself have been, as it were, a by-product -of this play. Maid Marian and several other characters who appear in -it originated only a century earlier, and have no part in the earliest -ballads. The play then gradually merged into May Day festivities -and the once familiar "Jack-in-the-Green," extinct only within the -last forty years, but greatly vulgarised towards the end, when -chimney-sweeps acted "Jacks-in-the-Green," and the Maids Marian were -too often fat and fiery-faced sluts. The entertainment was found all -too often outside public-houses. - -Robin Hood has, of course, equally with other heroes, suffered greatly -from being continually edited and restated, from age to age. How -should he escape the fate that King Arthur experienced, of being made -into a distinctly Victorian gentleman? Tennyson has redressed old -Robin, with new clothes and a new conscience, in _The Foresters; Robin -Hood and Maid Marian_, and there you cannot but entertain the horrible -suspicion that he has become a typically respectable mid-Victorian, and -that if any one offered to exchange his greenwood tree for a "parlour" -with perhaps a suite of walnut furniture upholstered in green repp, -and a marble clock with a couple of glass lustres on the dining-room -mantel-piece, he would gladly accept, forswear his woodland glades, and -live cleanly thereafter. - -But the two most striking evidences of the old-time popularity of Robin -Hood, not so long dead, are found in the many inns named after him, and -in that great friendly society, the "Ancient Order of Foresters," whose -title is directly inspired by the legendary story of Robin and his -fellow outlaws. No one who has ever seen the Foresters in their regalia -at their annual day at the Crystal Palace can have any doubt of that -inspiration. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE "HAND OF GLORY"—LIABILITY OF COUNTRY DISTRICTS FOR -ROBBERIES—EXEMPTION IN RESPECT OF SUNDAY TRAVELLING - - -Those far-distant, unpleasant days when "highway lawyers," and entirely -unromantic bands of robbers, murderers, and footpads swarmed over the -country, and robbed and slew with comparatively little fear of the law, -were also extremely superstitious days. Good men and bad were alike -steeped in a degrading belief in white and black magic, portents, and -omens. Magical aids in the prosecution of both innocent and guilty -enterprises were employed; and among them none more fearful than the -charm known generally as the "Hand of Glory": the "open sesame" of -thieves and assassins, among whom, it is to be feared, we must include -not a few of our "romantic" highwaymen; although probably the larger -number of them would actually have felt themselves insulted at being -styled thieves, and certainly only a minority slew wilfully. Most -desired nothing so little as to shed blood, in spite of the terrible -alternative they threatened—"Your money, or your life!" - -But among the thieves and the murderous the superstition of the "Hand -of Glory" was widely prevalent. It appears to have originally derived -from mediæval Germany, that storehouse of terrible imaginings. What the -"Hand of Glory" was, and the effect it produced, may be seen better by -the following quotation from the _Ingoldsby Legends_, which is one of -the most genuinely thrilling passages in literature. It is full of the -most dreadful description, but exquisitely done: - - On the lone bleak moor, At the midnight hour, - Beneath the Gallows Tree, - Hand in hand The Murderers stand, - By one, by two, by three! - And the moon that night With a grey, cold light, - Each baleful object tips; - One half of her form Is seen through the storm, - The other half's hid in Eclipse! - And the cold wind howls, And the Thunder growls, - And the Lightning is broad and bright; - And altogether It's very bad weather, - And an unpleasant sort of a night! - "Now mount who list, And close by the wrist, - Sever me quickly the Dead Man's fist! - Now climb who dare Where he swings in air, - And pluck me five locks of the Dead Man's hair!" - -[Illustration: THE "HAND OF GLORY": BENEATH THE GALLOWS TREE.] - -The dried hand, thus obtained, was fitted with wicks, one to each -finger and the thumb, made from the five locks of hair dipped in grease -from the murderer's own body and the fat of a black tom cat, and -generally consecrated with the saying of the Lord's Prayer, backwards. -When all these wicks were lighted, and the blazing Hand of Glory -carried into a house, a spell was supposed to be cast on place and -inmates, in which the malefactor could work his will: - - "Now open lock To the Dead Man's knock! - Fly bolt, and bar, and band! - Nor move, nor swerve, Joint, muscle, or nerve, - At the spell of the Dead Man's hand! - Sleep, all who sleep!—Wake, all who wake!— - But be as the Dead, for the Dead Man's sake!" - -[Illustration: "OPEN LOCK, TO THE DEAD MAN'S KNOCK."] - -Traditions not so long since surviving in the North Riding of Yorkshire -tell a horrid story of the use of an enchanted hand of this kind. One -wild and bitter night—the sort of night when homeless wayfarers were -more than usually to be pitied—a man clad in ragged clothes knocked at -the door of a lone inn on a solitary moor, and asked for a lodging. -There was no accommodation to spare, but as the night was so inclement -and the way was long to the next house, he was told that if he liked, -he might lie in the front of the kitchen fire. He accepted this offer -with every appearance of thankfulness, and soon after, when the family -had gone to bed, he was left there. But although the innkeeper and his -family had retired and left the stranger alone, the servant was still -engaged for a few minutes in another room which chanced to command a -view of the kitchen. Happening to glance in that direction, she was at -first astonished, and then horrified, to find that the stranger had -risen up from the floor and had seated himself at the table where she -saw him take a shrivelled, mummified hand from his pocket, set it up, -and then, one by one, light the fingers. The girl rushed upstairs -to warn her master of these extraordinary doings, but she found him -and his family all already in a charmed sleep. It was impossible to -arouse them; and here she found herself alone in the house with the -evil-intentioned stranger and his uncanny movements. She quietly -went downstairs again and saw the beggarman exploring the house and -collecting articles that appeared to him worth taking. Still on the -kitchen table burnt the four fingers of the Hand of Glory, in blue, -sickly flames; but the thumb was not burning. To that fact was due the -circumstance that one person in the house remained unaffected by the -spell. - -Stealing on noiseless feet into the kitchen, she blew upon the Hand, -but could not blow it out. She poured beer over it, but the Hand only -seemed to burn better. She tried water, but that appeared to have no -effect, one way or the other. Then she emptied the milk-jug over it. -Immediately the place was in darkness, except for the glow of the -kitchen-fire. The spell was instantly removed, the sleepers awakened, -and the robber seized and afterwards tried and hanged. - -Harrison Ainsworth, revelling as always in the horrible, gives us -his version of the Hand of Glory in _Rookwood_. In this variant you -recognise the nastiness of it, rather than the horror: - - From the corse that hangs on the roadside tree - (A murderer's corse it needs must be) - Sever the right hand carefully:— - Sever the hand that the deed hath done, - Ere the flesh that clings to the bones be gone; - In its dry veins must blood be none. - Those ghastly fingers, white and cold, - Within a winding-sheet enfold; - Count the mystic count of seven; - Name the Governors of Heaven, - Then in earthly vessel place them, - And with dragon-wort encase them; - Bleach them in the noon-day sun, - Till the marrow melt and run, - Till the flesh is pale and wan. - As a moon-ensilver'd cloud— - As an unpolluted shroud. - Next within their chill embrace - The dead man's awful candle place; - Of murderer's fat must that candle be, - (You may scoop it beneath the roadside tree) - Of wax and of Lapland sesame. - Its wick must be twisted of hair of the dead, - By the crow and her brood on the wild waste shed. - Wherever that terrible light shall burn, - Vainly the sleeper may toss and turn; - His leaden lids shall he ne'er unclose - So long as that magical taper glows. - Life and treasure shall he command, - Who knoweth the charm of the Glorious Hand! - But of black cat's gall let him aye have a care, - And of screech-owl's venomous blood beware. - -The ancient condition of Merry England was a despotic rule tempered -by rebellion and highway robbery, in which the Barons revolted from -time to time against kingly encroachments, and the peasantry were -generally at odds with both those estates. The woodland tracts that -then overspread the greater part of the country were filled with -outlaws, of whom Robin Hood, as we have already seen, was a sublimated -idealisation, and in those tangled thickets a man, or a body of men, -might lurk and exist for years, subsisting upon the deer whom it was -then, under the old forest laws, mutilation and death to slay. But with -the law already arrayed against them, the outlaws who had been deprived -of the very few rights a man of the peasant class might then own, cared -little for the fearful penalties that awaited those who took a fat buck -and converted it into venison, and valued not at all the punishments -that awaited the highway robber. A man proscribed for some offence, who -had then taken to the woods of necessity, might even, for sheer love of -the life, elect to remain in them for sport; for the sporting instinct -has ever been deeply implanted in the character of the English race, -without respect of class. It is largely the sporting instinct, and not -so much the actual worth of the quarry, that makes the modern poacher -brave the keepers of the squire's preserves. - -It was but a step from specialising in unlawful chase of the deer to -robbing travellers. The deer-stealers were already Ishmaels, before -they had dared so greatly, and they were doubly outlawed after so -boldly usurping the hunting prerogatives of kings and nobles. What -mattered, then, the taking of a purse; nay, even of a life? - -The Legislature early attempted to put pressure upon local authorities, -to secure the arrest of robbers, and, as usual, the pressure was -exercised through that most vulnerable part, the pocket, the -"Achilles' heel" of civilisation. The country (often in later years -we find it "the county") was supposed to be responsible for good -governance, and if the country was unfortunate enough to be infested -with robbers, it was expected to arrest them; or failing that, to be -financially answerable for their robberies. We find this specifically -provided for by Act of Parliament in 1285, and again in 1354. - -But it was impossible in those times, in the sparsely populated -country, to suppress robbers, and the rural districts suffered severely -in pocket as a result of bold pillaging in the day-time. - -In 1509 Margaret Paston, writing from Norfolk, is found nervous of -sending gold to London, and telling her husband, then staying in town, -that a sum of twenty marks had been paid for a ward, but that the -person who paid it "dare not aventure her money to be brought up to -London for feere of robbyng; for it is seide heere that there goothe -many thefys be twyx this and London." He was therefore to have the -money at his coming home. - -The county division known as "the hundred" was the area responsible -and liable to reimburse losses occasioned in this manner. Thus, _inter -alia_, we find the Hundred of Benhurst, in Berkshire, continually -assessed to make good the losses sustained by travellers, along what is -now the Bath Road, through Maidenhead Thicket, a place whose ill repute -was second only to that of Hounslow Heath. By an Act of Parliament of -1585 (27 Elizabeth c. 13, s. 2) the sum recoverable from the hundreds -was limited to half the travellers' loss. The reasons given for this -limitation were the distress and impoverishment of the inhabitants -by reason of these frequent and severe levies upon their purses. It -is evidence of the extraordinary increase of highway robbery at that -period. Five years after this enactment, the Hundred of Benhurst paid -£255 compensation for robberies committed in the Thicket. - -Even so, the liability of the country, the county, or the hundred, had -always been limited to robberies committed in daylight. "Between sun -and sun," _i.e._ between the setting of the sun and the next morning's -sunrise, the highwaymen might work double tides and plunder as they -would, and no action for damages would lie against the inhabitants. - -Nor could travellers who were robbed on Sunday have any redress. -It was particularly enacted by the statute of 1676, known as the -Sunday Trading Act, that any one travelling on the Lord's Day did so -entirely at his own risk, and was barred from bringing an action. -"But nevertheless," the section continues, "the inhabitants of the -counties and hundreds (after notice of such robbery to them, or some -of them, given, or after hue-and-cry for the same to be brought) shall -make or cause to be made fresh suit and pursuit after the offenders, -with horsemen and footmen, according to the statute made in the -twenty-seventh year of Queen Elizabeth, upon pain of forfeiting to the -King's Majesty, his heirs and successors, as much money as might have -been recovered against the hundred by the party robbed, if this had not -been made." - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -THE YOUNGER SONS—JUDGE POPHAM—SHAKESPEAREAN HIGHWAYMEN—THE "CAVALIER" -BRIGANDS—A SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY RELIGIOUS TRACT - - -No doubt many of the "highwaymen's" escapades in the times of Henry the -Eighth and Queen Elizabeth were the coltish pranks of high-spirited -young men of family, or the freaks of university students. To assume a -disguise, to buckle on a sword, and then take to the highway, singly or -in bands, would be just the kind of adventure to tickle the fancy of -such youths, and the danger that lay behind it all was really rather -an appetising spice than a discouragement. The tradition of Henry the -Fifth, when yet Prince of Wales, robbing on Gad's Hill for pastime, was -still current, and Shakespeare had just revived it, and invested the -doings of the Prince and Falstaff and their merry men with the glamour -of the stage, which even then set the fashion. - -Such a young man, according to Aubrey, was John Popham, afterwards Sir -John, and Chief Justice of the King's Bench. "In his youthful days," -says Aubrey, "he was a stout and skilful man at sword and buckler as -any in that age, and wild enough in his recreations, consorting with -profligate companions, and even at times wont to take a purse with -them." - -This wild fellow became, as a member of Parliament and a judge, an -extremely severe personage in dealing with the class of people with -whom we thus learn him to have associated. Partly his work was the Act -of 1589, which prescribed banishment (or, as later times phrased it, -"transportation") "into such parts beyond the seas as shall be at any -time hereafter for that purpose assigned." - -Shakespeare's highwaymen are, as a rule, gentlemen. Such were the -outlaws who in the _Two Gentlemen of Verona_ waylaid Valentine and -Speed in the forest. They had been banished from Verona and Mantua -merely for such trivial and essentially gentlemanly peccadilloes as an -attempt to abduct an heiress, and stabbing another gentleman to the -heart. Too bad! - -They found Valentine so presentable a young man that, finding he had no -property to lose, they immediately proposed to make him their captain. -They were prepared to do him homage, and be ruled by him. "But if thou -scorn our courtesy, thou diest." - -Making the best of circumstances—being rather prepared to captain a -band of desperadoes than lose his life, Valentine consented, with one -proviso: - - "I take your offer, and will live with you; - Provided that you do no outrages - On silly women, or poor passengers." - -To which the outlaws indignantly reply that they "detest such vile, -base practices." - -The doings of Falstaff and Prince Hal in their highway robbery exploits -on Gad's Hill are classic farce, with elements of probability, although -Sir John Fastolf, the original Falstaff, was introduced by Shakespeare -without the slightest warranty: the real Sir John having been no -dissolute, cowardly old man, but a brave and stern soldier, who had -warred nobly for King and country for forty years. - -The point of view from which the gentlemen highwaymen regarded -themselves is admirably set forth in the play of _Sir John Oldcastle_, -produced in 1600. The stage is generally regarded as the mirror of -life, and thus, when "Sir John à Wrotham" is made to introduce himself -to the audience, by frankly acknowledging he was, "in plain terms, a -thief; yet, let me tell you, too, an honest thief," we doubtless have -the real mental attitude of the "collectors"—as they were pleased to -fancifully style themselves—set forth. He goes on to declare himself, -in the good old Robin Hood vein, to be "one that will take it where -it may be spared, and spend it freely in good fellowship." A modern -company-promoter, of the Whitaker Wright type, might say as much, but -even if true, it would not be held an excuse. - -The same outlook upon life is observed in _The Cashiered Soldier_, -a tract published in 1643. It represents that warrior out of work -exclaiming: - - "To beg is base, as base as pick a purse; - To cheat, more base of all theft—that is worse. - Nor beg nor cheat will I—I scorn the same; - But while I live, maintain a soldier's name. - I'll purse it, I,—the highway is my hope; - His heart's not great that fears a little rope." - -Again, Bishop Earle, in his _Microcosmography_, shows us how the -highwaymen were recruited. Speaking of the sorrows of younger sons, and -narrating the shifts to which they were often reduced, he says: "Others -take a more crooked path, through the King's highway, where at length -the vizard is plucked off, and they strike fair for Tyburne." - -The biographies of highwaymen given later in these pages, fully -illustrate the position of affairs in the succeeding age, and show that -the country swarmed with highway robbers after the conclusion of the -Civil War between King and Parliament. Many of them were impoverished -cavaliers, but the most prominent were only pretended gentlemen, who -used any Royalist sympathies they may have had in giving a specious -excuse for their misdeeds. Captain Hind is typical of these plundering -fellows in the era of the Commonwealth. So many were they, and so -formidable, travelling, as they often did, in bands, that it became the -business of the troops, at the conclusion of the war, to hunt out all -such associated brigands. - -On September 17th, 1649, General Fairfax issued a proclamation -addressed to the commanders of "every respective regiment of horse," -urging them to activity in the apprehension of all robbers, and -promising high rewards for everyone captured. To this a Royalist -print, the _Man in the Moon_, sarcastically rejoined that the "House -of Robbers"—by which the House of Commons was meant—had voted for the -next six months a reward of £10 for the taking of every burglar or -highway-robber, "the State's officers exempted." - -The proclamation, however, had its due effect, for on December 24th, -no fewer than twenty-eight malefactors, principally of the classes -specified, were all gibbeted together at Tyburn. Among them was "one -Captain Reynolds, who was of the King's party in Cornwall, at the -disbanding of the Lord Hopton's army at Truro.... His carriage was very -bold, and, as he was going to be turned off, he cried: 'God bless King -Charles: Vive le Roi.'" - -But they were generally defiant at the last, whether Royalists or mere -purse-takers; whether of the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries. -Conscience, which makes cowards of all, did not awake and begin to -unnerve these candidates for Jack Ketch until the very opening of the -nineteenth century. - -Thus, in the olden times we find the condemned highwaymen nearly always -nursing the grievance of their doom, and speaking of Justice and her -emissaries as their "enemies"; as witness Thomas Hill, executed July -19th, 1694. Was he penitent at Tyburn? Not at all. His last words -were, "God bless all my friends, and let all my enemies be hanged -as I am"; and, adds his biographer "other reflecting and abusive -Expressions." - -Although it might well seem, after an extensive course of reading in -the thoughts and deeds of those times, that the country was entirely -populated by two classes: the scoundrels who were always trying to -evade Justice, and the officers of the law, continually occupied -in tracing them, an unobtrusive residuum of well-intentioned and -well-conducted people existed. We do not, it is true, hear much of -them, which is only to be expected; but they existed, nevertheless, and -were often as anxious to save sinners as any modern tract-distributor. - -A curious seventeenth-century four-page leaflet in the British Museum, -styled _A Terrible and Seasonable Warning_, shows something of the -well-meaning forces, as well as a good deal of the superstition, of -the time, in an account of how a young man named Abraham Joiner, -aged between seventeen and eighteen, described as a ballast-man, of -Shakesby's Walk, near Shadwell church, was saved at the last moment -from becoming a footpad or a highwayman. It is nothing more nor less -than a seventeenth-century ancestor—and a very badly printed one—of -the modern religious tracts produced nowadays by the million, in a -rather hopeless endeavour to save hurrying sinners, often too anxiously -wondering how they are to live in this world, without troubling about -the next. - -The young man began to keep bad company, and in especial that of one -Ann Turner, who said she must have money, and he must by some means get -it for her. Abraham went home in a desperate frame of mind. He thought -of the several ways (none of them honest ones) in which money in a -sufficiency might suddenly be obtained; and frightened his mother by -saying he must and would get some, even though he asked the devil to -help him to it. - -"In this Humour," we learn, "he went out to the _Cock_ and _Lyon_ -in King Street, where there came into A Room to him a Person in a -Dark-colour'd Habit, and ask'd him what made him so Melancholly? If -he wanted Money, he cou'd help him to it, and bid him meet him the -next Night, which he at first told him he wou'd do; but afterwards -suspecting it might be the Devil, he told him he cou'd not meet him at -the time, then bid him meet him on _Sunday_, behind _Stepney_ church, -which he consented to do, and, going away, gave him a Pistole in gold -(a coin, not a firearm) after which the Young Man grew uneasy in his -Mind, and going home show'd his Brother, who advis'd him to throw the -Money away, assuring him it could be none but the Devil, which very -much terrified the young man, so that he threw the Money away, and was -taken with a sudden trembling, and falling on his knees, besought God -to forgive him. - -"In this condition, Mr. Constable, the Minister of the Parish, was sent -for, and Mr. Symons, who Pray'd by him till the time was over when he -had promis'd to meet the Person he had seen, and Mr. Constable and -the other Divines us'd many Prayers and exhortations with him, and at -length so comforted him that 'tis hoped the Devil will have no further -Power over him, if he takes this timely Warning of the Mercies of God." - -[Illustration: "A TERRIBLE AND SEASONABLE WARNING."] - -Then follow "Some of the Prayers." The first page shows a very -respectable-looking devil and a very greatly terrified young man; also -some black-cassocked clergymen on their knees, very earnestly praying. - -A curious broadsheet tract of about a century and a half later, -entitled _Wild Robert_, may be fitly noticed here. Like the earlier -tract, it was a purely religious publication; but the time had gone by -for supernatural terrors to be invoked. Poetry, of sorts, is brought to -bear, instead: - -[Illustration: THE END OF WILD ROBERT.] - - -THE EXECUTION OF WILD ROBERT. - -_Being a Warning to all Parents._ - - WILD ROBERT was a graceless Youth, - And bold in every sin - In early life with petty thefts, - His course he did begin. - - - But those who deal in lesser sins, - In great will soon offend; - And petty thefts, not check'd betimes, - In murder soon may end. - - And now, like any beast of prey, - Wild Robert shrunk from view, - Save when at eve on Bagshot Heath - He met his harden'd crew. - - With this fierce crew Wild Robert there - On plunder set his mind; - And watch'd and prowl'd the live-long night - To rob and slay mankind. - - But God, whose vengeance never sleeps, - Tho' He delays the blow, - Can in a single moment lay - The prosperous villain low. - - One night, a fatal night indeed! - Within a neigh'bring wood, - A harmless passenger he robb'd, - And dy'd his hands in blood. - - The direful deed perform'd, he went - To shew his golden spoils, - When vengeful Justice, unawares, - Surpris'd him in her toils. - - Wild Robert seiz'd, at once was known, - (No crape had hid his face) - Imprison'd, tried, condemn'd to die! - Soon run was Robert's race. - - Since short the time the laws allow - To murderers doom'd to die, - How earnest shou'd the suppliant wretch - To Heaven for mercy cry! - - But he, alas! no mercy sought, - Tho' summon'd to his fate; - The Cart drew near the Gallows Tree, - Where throng'd spectators wait. - - Slow as he past no pious tongue - Pour'd forth a pitying pray'r; - Abhorrence all who saw him felt, - He, horror and despair. - - And now the dismal death-bell toll'd, - The fatal cord was hung, - While sudden, deep and dreadful shrieks, - Burst forth amidst the throng. - - Hark! 'tis his mother's voice he hears! - Deep horror shakes his frame; - 'Tis rage and fury fill his breast, - Not pity, love, or shame. - - "One moment hold!" the mother cries, - "His life one moment spare, - One kiss, my miserable child, - My Robert, once so dear!" - - "Hence, cruel mother, hence," he said, - "Oh! deaf to nature's cry; - Your's is the fault I liv'd abhorr'd - And unlamented die. - - "You gave me life, but with it gave - What made that life a curse; - My sins uncurb'd, my mind untaught, - Soon grew from bad to worse. - - "I thought that if I 'scap'd the stroke - Of man's avenging rod, - All would be well, and I might mock - The vengeful pow'r of GOD. - - "My hands no honest trade were taught, - My tongue no pious pray'r; - Uncheck'd I learnt to break the laws, - To pilfer, lie, and swear. - - "The Sabbath bell that toll'd to church, - To me unheeded rung; - God's holy name and word I curs'd - With my blaspheming tongue. - - "No mercy now, your ruin'd child - Of heav'n can dare implore, - I mocked at grace, and now I fear - My day of grace is o'er. - - "Blame not the law which dooms your son, - Compar'd with you 'tis mild; - 'Tis you have sentenc'd me to death, - To hell have doom'd your child." - - He spoke, and fixing fast the cord, - Resigned his guilty breath; - Down at his feet his mother fell, - By conscience struck with death. - - Ye parents, taught by this sad tale, - Avoid the path she trod; - And teach your sons in early years - The fear and love of GOD. - - So shall their days, tho' doom'd to toil, - With peace and hope be blest; - And heav'n, when life's short task is o'er, - Receive their souls to rest. - -The price of this improving publication was one halfpenny, and no one, -observing the dramatic picture with which it begins, or reading the -verses, will be disposed to think value for money was not given. Let us -hope the parents of that age duly profited by the advice given! - - - - -CHAPTER V - -ENORMOUS CAPTURES MADE BY HIGHWAY GANGS—BRACY'S GANG—ROBBERIES ON THE -ROAD TO NEWMARKET—ADVERTISEMENTS OF THE PERIOD—AUGUSTIN KING—PLUNDER -AND BATTLE ON THE ST. ALBANS ROAD—SOLDIERS AS HIGHWAYMEN - - -Much has already been said in these pages of the imaginative character -of a good deal to be found in Captain Alexander Smith's _Lives of the -Highwaymen_, but at the same time it would not be proper to regard that -work as a work of fiction. The amazing adventures of the highwaymen -whose careers are treated of there can be readily paralleled in the -actual trials of their kind, not only in the periods with which he -deals, but at a much later time. The enormous booty they carry off in -his pages may seem incredible, but time and again we find, in accounts -that cannot be disputed, that the highwaymen did, in fact, secure -extremely large sums. Instances might be multiplied indefinitely, if -it were necessary to prove the truth of this statement. The trial at -Derby in August 1679 of "Twelve Notorious Highway Men, Murderers, and -Clippers of Money" is merely one case in point. - -These were "Mr." Bracy, evidently superior to most of the gang, Richard -Piggen, Roger Brookham, another superior person, one "Mr." Gerrat, John -Barker, William Loe, John Roobottom, Thomas Ouldome, John Baker, Daniel -Buck, Thomas Gillat, and one Smedley. - -Bracy was captain of the gang: the head and brains of it. They broke -one night into the house of "Captain John Munday, Esquire," at -Morton, near Derby, took away £1200 in gold and silver, also plate, -"binding the Esquire and all his Family in their beds, and using great -insolences by threats, to make them confess their Treasures." - -Two months after this exploit the gang "met" (not, we may suppose, -casually) a waggon between Lenton and Newark, in which were several -small barrels of money, and others of gold lace. Securing the waggoner, -they hauled out the barrels, and, breaking open the barrel-heads with -the hatchets they had been careful to bring with them, they secured a -booty of eighteen hundred pounds, "which," we are told, "they divided, -and so disperst." - -Buck, together with a man named Ryley, was shortly afterwards taken -at Ockbrook, near Derby. Both were hanged. The rest of the company -continued their former practices. Breaking open the house of Lady Jane -Scroop, at Everston, near Nottingham, they took £600, "missing two or -three thousands by being one day too forward in their Actions." They -then must needs quarrel over dividing the spoil. The affair is best -told in the words of the original account: - -"Upon the discussing of this booty, one of the company and Bracy -falling at a difference, they had a small Combate with their Swords, -the other cutting the Throate of a Mare that Bracy rode upon, which for -swiftness and goodness was hardly to be compar'd in England." - -The gang next proposed to raid the house of one Squire Gilbert, at -Locko, near Derby, and that of Mr. Garland at Lenton; but in the -meanwhile most of them were arrested. Bracy, who at that time had -hurried off to his wife's death-bed, at an inn she kept, twelve miles -north of Nottingham, was betrayed by one of the servants of the inn, -who informed the Justices that the highwayman who was being sought -was in the house. The inn was presently surrounded, and Bracy's son, -looking out of a window, saw there was little chance of his father -escaping. What chance there remained was tried. Taking a horse out of -the stable at the back, he bid his father mount, leap the fence, and -make a dash for it. It was a poor chance, and was made worse by the -horse refusing the jump. A sheriff's man then shot the horse dead, and -with a second bullet wounded Bracy himself. The highwayman, however, -continued the combat until he sank, mortally wounded. He was then -carried to a bed in the inn, where he died. - -The remnant of this numerous band were indomitably active. Three of -them beset two gentlemen in Needwood Forest, bidding them "Stand and -deliver!" Refusing, one of them was shot; but the other, with sword and -pistol, made a brisk resistance, until one of the thieves, creeping up -behind, ran him through the body. - -[Illustration: THE FIGHT IN NEEDWOOD FOREST.] - -These three were not long afterwards arrested for clipping money. Tried -and convicted of that offence, itself involving capital punishment, -they had no hesitation in confessing their other crimes. - -Among others at that time under arrest were Piggen and Baker. Piggen -turned King's evidence, and was pardoned: Baker also being pardoned, -but why, we do not learn. Among the facts deposed to by these convicted -criminals was that the gang were accustomed to meet at an inn called -the "Cock," near St. Michael's Church, Derby, kept by a widow named -Massey and John Baker, her son-in-law. There they had clipped in one -night so much as £100. A boy of fifteen years of age was employed in -the house, and by some means accidentally learnt too much of the gang's -business. They thought him too dangerous, and so murdered him and -buried his body in the cellar. - -Where wealth gathered, there were the highwaymen also. There was no -road more frequented by wealthy men in the reign of James the First -and that of Charles the Second than the road to Newmarket. The Court -was frequently there for the race-meetings, and gamblers of all kinds -were naturally attracted. Many a gamester who had lost his all on -horses or by cards at Newmarket took as a matter of course to robbing -other sportsmen: either those hasting down to try their luck, or -those fortunate ones who were returning home with pockets bulging with -their winnings. One William Fennor, who in 1617 published a pamphlet -called the _Competers' Common-Wealth_, has much that is interesting -to disclose about these reckless blades. A "competer" was, of course, -one of the gamesters aforesaid; and any of them who had the misfortune -to lose his money went immediately, as he tells us, upon the Heath, -to replenish his pockets. They were by no means proud, and did not -disdain to rob rustics of their pence. "Poor Countrie people," he says, -with bitter satire, "cannot passe quietly to the Cottages, but some -Gentlemen will borrow all the money they have." Tyburn Tree and Wapping -Gibbets, he added, had "many hangers-on," gathered in from among these -gentry. - -Fennor's disclosures did not end these practices. As the fame and -vogue of Newmarket increased, so also did the highway robberies on -the Newmarket Road. The culminating point of it all appears to have -been a pitched battle which, according to the _Domestic Intelligence_ -of August 24th in that year, took place at the Devil's Ditch, through -which the highway runs on to Newmarket Heath. Five highwaymen had here -robbed a coach and taken £59, and a very considerable booty in the way -of gold lace, silks, and linen. Before they could make off with the -plunder, the exasperated countryfolk were roused, and were stationed -in a body in the opening of that tall and steep bank, impracticable -for horsemen, the only way by which the Heath may be entered or left. -The highwaymen were thus completely shut in, and could only escape -by abandoning their horses: an unthinkable alternative. Had they -retreated, they would have been captured in Newmarket town. The only -thing to be done was to make a dash for liberty. "Knowing themselves -Dead Men by the Law, if they were taken," says that early newspaper, -"they charged through the Countrymen, and by Firing upon them Wounded -four, one of which we understand is Dead of his Wounds." Thus they -got clear away: the whole incident leaving upon the mind a very vivid -impression of a lawless and ill-policed country. - -Not only were these men determined in resistance. They were ready to -revenge such of their comrades as had been unfortunate enough to be -captured; as we see from the diary of Sir John Reresby, who, writing in -February 1677, says: "I went to London (from York) well guarded, for -fear of some of my back friends and highwaymen, having caused the chief -of them to be taken not long before." - -The newspapers of that time were full of advertisements offering -rewards for the recovery of property, or the apprehension of thieves. -Some of them afford amusing reading. Thus, in the _London Gazette_ of -December 1st, 1681, we find the following: - - "Robb'd the 10th of _Nov._ last, from Mr. _Joseph Bullock_ of - _Bristol_, on the Road between _Hungerford_ and _Newbury_ in - _Barkshire_, one Silver Watch and Case, there being on the - backside of the Case an Almanack, a Hanger with a Plate Hilt, - a Buff Belt, with Silver Buckles; by Three Men, the one a - middle-siz'd Man, full Fac'd, a short White Wigg much Curl'd in - an old Cloth-colour riding Coat, on a Flea-bitten Horse, about - 14 hands high, his Brows Brown; the other a middle-sized Black - Favour'd, on a Grey Horse, above 14 hands high, with Black Hair - or Wigg, and thin Favour, the other a full set Man, thin Favour'd - with curled dark Brown Hair. Whoever can discover the Persons - aforesaid to Mr. _Bullock_ of _Bristol_ or at the _Three Cups_ in - _Breadstreet, London_; (the said Robbers having killed one _John - Thomas_, the said Mr. _Bullock's_ Servant,) shall have their - Charges, and ten pounds reward." - -Here, in the matter-of-fact language of an advertisement, we see one -of those obscure tragedies that were always occurring on the roads: -bloodshed that for the most part called in vain for vengeance. - -Again—this time in 1684—the _London Gazette_ is used as the medium, in -an effort to obtain justice, but it is not to be supposed that there -were any results. He must have been an extremely sanguine advertiser to -have offered so speculative a reward for information so greatly desired: - - "On Whitsunday in the Evening was committed a great Robbery by - four Highwaymen within half a mile of Watford Gap in the County - of Northampton, to the value of above Eight score Pounds taken - from some Passengers. They were of indifferent stature, their - Coats were all turned up with Shag, one had a blew Shag, and - wore a Perriwig, the others wore their own Hair; They had two - Bay Naggs, a Bay Mare somewhat battered before, and a Sprig Tail - Sorrel Mare, which they took away from one they robb'd, and a - black Nag; one of them had short Holsters to his Saddle without - breast-plate, another a pair of Pistols in his Saddle Cover. - Whoever gives notice of the said Robbers to Joshuah Snowden, - Confectioner at the Belsavage Gate on Ludgate Hill, or to Henry - Keys at Watford Gap Inn, shall be well rewarded." - -Even University graduates were at this period known to occasionally -present a pistol upon the road. Such behaviour was by no means uncommon -among collegers in earlier centuries, but we read with astonishment how -Augustine King, a graduate of King's College, Cambridge, was publicly -advertised in the _London Gazette_ of December 1st, 1687, among other -highwaymen, as follows: - - "There is likewise abroad one Augustine King, formerly convicted - at Cambridge; a Notorious Highway Robber, who made his Escape - from the _Gatehouse_. He is a lusty fat man, about 31 or 32 years - of Age, fresh-coloured, full Ey'd, his own Hair, lank, inclinable - to black: he hath several more in his Company, who, some, or - most of them, are well-known to some Inn-keepers not far distant - from _London_, who will do well to cause them, especially _King_, - to be taken before next Sessions at the _Old Bayly_, for their - own Indemnity." - -King would seem to have actually been captured as a result of this -public announcement, for we find that he was executed in the following -year. - -The road on to St. Albans witnessed astounding doings. On November -9th, 1690, seven highwaymen robbed the Manchester carrier of £15,000, -tax-money, which was being conveyed under what is described as a -"strong" escort, to London. The robbery was coolly planned and with -equal coolness executed. At their leisure the highwaymen arrived on the -scene, fully advised of the approach of the carrier, and proceeded to -seize and rob all wayfarers and then securely tie them to trees. Having -thus made sure of not being interrupted, they were ready for the chief -booty of the day. Dashing among the strong escort, they overcame them -in a fight, whose details are not reported, and after taking the money -killed or hamstrung eighteen horses, to render pursuit impossible. - -It appears that this was looked upon as a Jacobite and Roman Catholic -plot, and that two Roman Catholics were arrested on suspicion and -committed for trial; but the rest is obscure. Some suspicious persons -might even regard the whole affair as a put-up job between the escort -who thus betrayed their trust and shared an excellent haul. - -Again, at London Colney, near by, on the night of August 23rd, 1692, -the highwaymen performed a notable feat; robbing none other than the -great Duke of Marlborough, the foremost military genius of the age, of -five hundred guineas. - -Three months later a party of highwaymen—no doubt the same dare-devil -rogues—secured between £1,500 and £2,000 out of a waggon "near Barnet," -and in November the Oxford coach was pillaged in mid-day, after a -bloody fight. About the same time, we read in Narcissus Luttrell's -diary, fifteen butchers, going to Thame market to buy cattle, were -robbed by nine highwaymen, who carried them over a hedge, made them -drink King James's health in a bottle of brandy, and bid them sue the -county: a remedy open to travellers who were robbed on the roads in -daylight "between sunrise and sunset." - -Military force was found necessary for the suppression of these -outrages. Detachments of Dragoons were sent out all round London and -posted at a distance of about ten miles out, on the great roads. The -captures effected by these patrols were numerous; but at some spot -not more clearly identified than as being "near Barnet" they had an -armed encounter with the band led by "Captain" James Whitney, December -6th, 1692. One Dragoon was killed, but Whitney was captured and duly -executed, and the roads, in the north, at any rate, for awhile had -peace. - -Not, however, for very long. Robberies may not have been again -committed on so astonishing a scale; but highwaymen reappeared when -the Dragoons were withdrawn, and found their occupation, not only -lucrative, but pretty safe. - -But as the years went on, things grew steadily worse. Unemployment -was the principal cause of the enormous increase of highway robberies -in 1698. Highwaymen, as we have already seen, were numerous before, -but they now grew more than ever daring. The Peace of Ryswick, which -had the year before ended an inglorious war, caused great numbers of -soldiers to be disbanded, and, finding no livelihood to be obtained in -honest work, they naturally chose to plunder the travellers whom they -observed journeying to and from London, often with well-filled purses, -ready to become the property of any bold fellow who could command a -good horse, a pistol or sword, and courage to stop men on their lawful -business. Near Waltham Cross, bandits to the number of thirty built -themselves huts amid the leafy coverts of Epping Forest, and, without -waiting for the kindly obscurity of night, came forth at all hours with -deadly weapons and held up the traffic along the Cambridge and the -Newmarket roads. - -They did not hesitate to slay, and often the bodies of slaughtered -wayfarers affrighted the next travellers, who, warned by such sights -of the futility of resistance, rendered unto these highway Cæsars -whatever they had about them: satisfied to escape, with empty pockets -indeed, but with a whole skin. For a while this settlement of reckless -men was abolished by a raid, under the direction of the Lord Chief -Justice, but the expedition, raiding in the interests of law and -order, had not long departed when the outlaws again occupied the spot. -They even had the impudence to send a written and signed defiance -to Whitehall. There they went too far, for that would have been no -Government worthy of the name which consented to receive such a -document and to idly pass it by. Another Dragoon expedition, somewhat -similar to that of 1692, was equipped, and while some of the soldiers -patrolled the roads in that direction, others encamped for a time in -the Forest itself. Thus it is probable that soldiers still in service -were employed against those others not so fortunate, who had been -disbanded and obliged to seek these ways of existence. - -This fraternity was certainly broken up, and we do not hear again of -such numerous, or such highly organised, bands; but when the Dragoons -were again withdrawn, the roads once more became extremely dangerous. - -The Dragoons themselves were, individually, not above suspicion. No -doubt they learned some useful things when engaged on this kind of -duty; and when such unskilled persons in the use of arms as ruined -gamesters took to the road to replenish their pockets, it was perhaps -not remarkable that soldiers should seek to add to their scanty pay by -like means. The Guards regiments numbered many experts in the "Stand -and deliver" way. Opportunity helped them. They were already armed, -and, as they did not live in barracks until about 1790, and were merely -quartered on the inhabitants of London and Westminster, they were free -at all hours of the night to "labour in the calling of purse-taking." - -Thus we read of a quite typical affair in January 1704, on Hounslow -Heath, in which James Harris, a trooper in the Horse Guards, was -principally concerned. It seems that on the 26th of that month a -certain George Smith, Esquire, and a Major Wade, of Bristol, were -travelling westward in a postchaise. They halted at the "Pack Horse" -at Turnham Green, "for refreshment," and appear to have refreshed so -well that by the time their equipage was crossing Hounslow Heath they -had fallen fast asleep. From this slumber of repletion they were rudely -awakened by stern voices saying, "D—n you, give me your money!" and -"D—n you, give me your watch!" - -"Who's that a-calling?" asks the songster. In this case it was -James Harris and a companion, who robbed them effectually after a -rough-and-tumble with the servant of Mr. Smith, who sprang at Harris -and pulled him off his horse. There they struggled, and presently the -highwayman's mask was torn off, disclosing his scarred face. Mr. Smith -then declared he would give up all his valuables if the highwayman -would spare his man's life, and the affair ended. - -Mr. Smith afterwards, hearing that a man answering to this description -had been arrested on suspicion of being concerned in other robberies, -came forward, entirely in the public interest, and identified him at -the military mews. "Sir, do you know me?" Harris impudently asked, -advancing upon him with insolent braggadocio. Mr. Smith did. - -Harris was indicted at the Sessions on February 28th, and found guilty, -but was afterwards reprieved. - -Such lenient treatment was not calculated to render the highways -more safe, and so especially dangerous became the road between -Shoreditch and Cheshunt that the turnpike men were in 1722 provided -with speaking-trumpets, in a singular effort to warn travellers and -one another "in case any Highwaymen or footpads are out." It does not -appear exactly how this idea was worked, or if travellers were supposed -to wait until such highwaymen or footpads retired: but, according to a -newspaper report of that time, the scheme was successful, for we read: -"We don't find that any robbery has been committed in that quarter -since they have been furnished with them, which has been these two -months." - -Other roads and suburban districts to the east and north-east of -London continued to be extremely dangerous. In the history of Hackney -we read, for example, of numerous highway robberies, burglaries, and -murders, in a long series of years. The neighbourhood of the then -almost trackless Hackney Marshes no doubt was a predisposing cause for -this exceptional ill-repute. Here again, we find that soldiers were -often the criminals. On November 23rd, 1728, the house of a Mr. Wood, -a farmer, near Hackney, was broken open by half-a-dozen fellows, who -seized and bound all the family. The account then goes on to say that, -"They had the good conduct to take off their coats that nobody might -know what regiment they belonged to, and robbed in their red waistcoats -only, but left a cockade behind them. It is supposed they belonged to -the Dragoons; but those gentlemen (it is humbly presumed) ought not to -leave their cockades behind them when they go upon such expeditions, -such things being of no use but upon reviews." - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -"WHO GOES HOME?" IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS—FOOTMEN TURN HIGHWAYMEN—SIR -SIMON CLARKE—A MERRY FREAK AND ITS TRAGICAL CONSEQUENCES—AMAZING -POLTROONERY OF TRAVELLERS—ADVERTISEMENTS OF THE PERIOD—HIGHWAY ROBBERY -IN PICCADILLY - - -An old-world survival, heard every night in the lobbies of the House -of Commons during session, is that of the cry, "Who goes Home?" When -the House rises, and the legislators, who have left their brains -outside and have voted "as their leaders tell 'em to" are dispersing, -the stentorian shout of "Who goes Home?" passes from policeman to -policeman, along corridors and down staircases, until at last it -reaches the coachmen and the cabmen waiting in Palace Yard. The cry -means nothing now, except that the sitting is over, but it originated -in the ill-guarded condition of the streets and of the suburbs some -hundreds of years ago, when even members of Parliament were not safe -from highwaymen and footpads, and when at that call they assembled in -little bands, often under the protection of the linkmen, to journey -together for mutual protection to their several destinations. - -[Illustration: "WHO GOES HOME?"] - -Those were the times when Londoners, travelling at night westward -from Hyde Park Corner, where the last outpost of civilisation, in the -shape of the ultimate watchman's box, was situated, assembled there in -parties, armed with bludgeons and blunderbusses, and, so fortified, -came thankfully to their destinations in one or other of those solitary -country mansions, whose high-walled gardens and heavy doors arouse -the astonishment of those modern observers who do not realise the old -necessity that existed for residences so situated being planned very -much after the style of block-houses in a hostile country. - -Nor was it only by night that the fringes of London were made dangerous -by highwaymen and footpads. Hyde Park was a fashionable resort, even -under the Commonwealth, but even in the early years of the succeeding -century it was a dangerous place, as we learn from the following item -in Narcissus Luttrell's diary, only one among many such, under date of -1704: - -1704. "A Gentleman going from St. James's to Kensington was met and -attacked in Hide Park by two Foot Pads, who took from him his Sword, -Watch, Perriwig, and Rings, in all to the value of £130, and left him -in a deplorable condition." - -The highwaymen who terrorised travellers from about 1720 and onwards -were still recruited from the ranks of younger sons, from broken -gamesters, and from the army; but about this time they were very -largely reinforced by a class of men now extinct. The noblemen and -the wealthy of the eighteenth century kept up establishments that -have long since become things of the past. The "running footmen," for -example, who were a feature in every peer's household, trotting in -advance of my lord's carriage, are only to be found in books on bygone -usages. The Duke of Queensberry, "Old Q," kept the last of them, and -he died in 1810. From the footmen, "running" or other, the coachmen, -and the other servants of nobility in that age, the roads were very -largely peopled with highwaymen. These men had learned in service to -imitate all the vices and none of the virtues (although they were -few enough) of their masters. Their imitation chiefly led them into -gambling, and when they lost their places through their failure to do -their duty, and sometimes the robbery of plate and money, that commonly -resulted from their devotion to cards and drink, there was nothing -easier than to take to the road. They had learned, in their association -with the great, something of deportment, they could generally ride a -horse, and a cast-off suit of my lord's fully furnished them, in the -bad light of a winter's day, with the appearance of gentlemen. Such at -that period were many of the "Knights of the Road"; and thus, in spite -of the glowing accounts commonly given of the mid-eighteenth century -highwaymen, it is not surprising to find that they were, as a general -rule, merely sordid fellows, whose idea of repartee was the cold muzzle -of a pistol and a "Deliver instantly": embellished with a volley of -oaths. - -But now and again we happen upon some pleasing play of fancy; as, for -instance, when Harry Simms, a really dashing highwayman who was well -known as "Gentleman Harry," came upon a gentleman in a postchaise. -Harry rode furiously always. "Don't ride your horse so hard, sir," said -the gentleman, "or you'll soon ride away all your estate." - -"Indeed I shall not," returned Gentleman Harry, "for it lies in several -counties." - -He then bade the traveller deliver what he had about him, which proved -to be over a hundred guineas, and having realised so much of his widely -distributed estate, he made off in search of fresh adventure. He found -plenty, before he was finally captured at Dunstable and hanged in June -1747. - -"Gentleman Harry" was but a gentleman by the popular recognition -accorded his dashing ways; but a real, officially recognised gentleman -was at the same time upon the road; no less a personage than Sir Simon -Clarke, Bart., who, in company with a certain Lieutenant Arnott, -scoured the roads of Hampshire for a brief space. The Baronet was -brought to trial at Winchester and convicted, but so impressed were the -High Sheriff and the grand jury by the threatened scandal of a Baronet, -even though merely a bad one, being hanged, that they petitioned the -King on the subject, and Sir Simon Clarke was reprieved _sine die_, -"which," says the contemporary chronicler of these things, "implies for -ever." - -There was, however, a certain blind fury about the ways of Justice at -that time, which in general boded ill for evil-doers. The abstract -theory of Justice eliminates the idea of revenge, and capital -punishment for all manner of trivial offences was inflicted, less from -any real sense of the enormity of the crimes, than with the object of -protecting Society. Society could not adequately be protected in those -days by the primitive forerunners of our police, and so, when by chance -any criminal was captured—and the capturing of them generally was a -chance affair—Justice usually made a terrible example of them, by way -of warning. It was only as times grew gradually more secure that it was -imagined justice could really afford to dispense with these examples, -which were fondly thought to be deterrents. Capital punishment was then -the best conceivable warning to others _not_ to go and do likewise, -and the subsequent exhibition of the criminals' bodies dangling from -gibbets was the next best; but the very frequency of these loathsome -exhibits rendered men callous and by familiarity blunted the edge of -all these practical warnings Society thought itself bound to give, for -its own protection. - -Private influence and class interests might now and then be powerful -enough to procure the reprieve of a highwayman in the mid-eighteenth -century, but a due sense of what was owing to the middle classes -generally forbade lenient treatment. A pretty face, however, and -persistent pleading could produce wonderful results. - -There was no sense of humour in justice at that period, as may be -clearly seen in the case narrated by Silas Told, the earnest Wesleyan -who in 1744 began to thrust himself into the fearful prison atmosphere -of Newgate, and to wrestle there with condemned prisoners for their -souls, in surroundings of the utmost brutal indifference. - -It seems that during the riotous proceedings accompanying the election -of a member of Parliament for Chelmsford, four young men of good family -had grown so merry with drink that they went out upon the country road -and played the dangerous game of highwaymen. In the course of this -drunken freak they robbed a farmer, and were recognised and arrested, -being afterwards sent to Newgate, tried, and capitally convicted. -Their names were Brett, Whalley, Dupree, and Morgan. The last-named -happened at the time to be engaged to Lady Elizabeth Hamilton, daughter -of the Duke of Hamilton. The young lady was stricken with grief, and -frequently visited her unlucky sweetheart in prison, and "Like the -importunate widow set forth in the Gospel," says the good Told, "she -went daily to His Majesty, as also did others at her request, and -pleaded with His Majesty for the life of Mr. Morgan; but at first, His -Majesty, considering it a point of injustice as well as partiality, -would by no means attend to her plaintive petitions. Another -consideration was that they were all persons of dignity and fortune, -and could not plead necessity to palliate the enormity of the robbery, -as many unhappy sufferers could; therefore His Majesty said his -subjects were not to be put in bodily fear and suffer the loss of their -property merely through a capricious, wanton whim. However, the morning -before the execution, Lady Betty Hamilton appeared before His Majesty -and fell upon her knees (I suppose in tears too). 'My lady,' said His -Majesty, 'there is no end of your importunity; I will spare his life, -upon condition that he be not acquainted therewith till he arrives at -the place of execution.'" - -In the result, the unfortunate Brett, Whalley, and Dupree, who had -not high-born sweethearts to plead for their lives with Royalty, were -hanged. Morgan followed in the cart, and the sheriff did not produce -the order for respite until it was at the foot of the gallows. - -Silas Told describes the actual scene. "'Tis hard," he says, "to -express the sudden alarm this made among the multitude; and when I -turned round, and saw one of the prisoners out of the cart, with his -halter loose, falling to the ground, he having fainted away at the -sudden news, I was instantly seized with a great terror, as I thought -it was a rescue, rather than a reprieve; but when I beheld Mr. Morgan -put into a coach, and perceiving that Lady Betty Hamilton was seated -therein, in order to receive him, my fear was at an end, and, truly, I -was very well pleased on the occasion." - -But no one seems to have been very greatly scandalised at the -exceedingly hard measure meted out to the others, who had no charming -sweethearts to plead for them, but who, nevertheless, certainly ought -to have been reprieved with Morgan, who by no means deserved his good -fortune; for he entered upon a wild life, and was observed, six months -later, gambling with a fraudulent bankrupt, who himself was presently -hanged. - -Some thirty years earlier, in 1722, to be precise, a man named John -Hartley, who had been convicted and condemned to death for robbing -upon the highway as a footpad, had his life begged by an extraordinary -deputation of six young women, who went, dressed in white, to plead -with the King at St. James's Palace, for a reprieve. Hartley's crime -would in our own day be considered severely punished with the award of -six months' hard-labour, for he had merely felled a poor journeyman -tailor, gone over his pockets, and, in a furious rage, because he found -no greater sum than twopence, stripped him of every stitch of his -clothing, tied him to a tree, and made off with this singular booty. -It was, no doubt, an assault, aggravated by exposing the unfortunate -tailor to the bitter blast; but that a man should die for twopence, and -a bundle of not very desirable clothes, seems a punishment altogether -beyond the bounds of reason. Yet, at a period when a man might be -hanged for merely stealing a handkerchief, without any aggravated -assault, this was not considered unreasonable. "Society must be -protected," in effect, said the law; and if Society could not police -the streets and the roads with living police, and so prevent crime, it -took care that gallows and gibbet should display unmistakable evidence -of its readiness to avenge it. - -There must have been some extraordinary attraction about John Hartley, -in spite of his mean and paltry occupation of a footpad, for the young -women who went in white to beg for a reprieve were eager, if their -prayer were granted, to cast lots among themselves for the honour of -being his wife. But it was not to be. The reprieve was refused by -the King in person, who told the hopeful young women that he thought -hanging would be better for him than marriage. - -Their hazardous calling begat in the gentlemen of the high-toby a -ghastly kind of humour. Thus, when that unholy trio, Christopher -Dickson, John Gibson, and Charles Weymouth, united in the not very -desperate job of robbing a poor old man, who proved to have nothing on -him but the suit of clothes he stood up in, and a pair of spectacles; -and when Dickson would have taken even these from him, Gibson -intervened. "Give the old fellow his spectacles back," he said; "for, -if we follow this trade, we may assure ourselves we shall never reach -his years, to make use of them." True enough: they were hanged soon -afterwards, and never required any aids to eyesight. - -The impudence of the highwaymen is sometimes so unconsciously -extravagant, that it is on that account alone extremely amusing. They -felt it an intolerable grievance when they happened upon purses not -particularly well lined, and resented it hotly. An instance of this may -be found, not in any irresponsible novel, or other work of imagination, -but in the sober pages of the _Worcester Journal_ of September 29th, -1738, where we learn that in the early morning of September 21st, -between the hours of four and five, the "Flying Bath Coach" was stopped -by two footpads, about a mile on the London side of Newbury. There were -five passengers in the coach, all of whom these daring adventurers -robbed, without being resisted in the least. While one of them held the -horses' heads, the other interviewed the passengers. - -From a Sardinian gentleman he took a purse of guineas and a rich -scimetar that might have been profitably employed by the Sardinian -gentleman, one would have thought, about the robber's head and body; -from Captain Willoughby of Abchurch Lane, twenty-six shillings -and—oh! degrading—his coat and periwig; from Mr. Grubb, a distiller, -of Bishopsgate Street, twenty-five shillings; from Mr. Rawlinson, -High Constable of Westminster, three half-crowns, together with his -periwig and silver stock-buckle; and from Mr. Pratt, proprietor and -coachman of the "Flying Coach," four guineas, and his silver watch. He -threatened every minute to blow out their brains with a horse-pistol -he flourished, and although he had succeeded, without any trouble, in -securing a not inconsiderable booty, cursed them violently, saying, -"gentlemen were not obliged to be at the expense of powder and ball, -and likewise a long attendance on the road, to lose their time for so -slender a profit." - -To frighten travellers by these outrageous methods was a duly -calculated part of the business. We have, in the pages of Borrow's -_Romany Rye_, the theory of violent language and violent behaviour -on the part of the highwaymen duly expounded by the ostler of the -unnamed inn mentioned in chapter xxiv. This ostler, a Yorkshireman by -birth, had seen a great deal of life in the vicinity of London, to -which he had gone at a very early age. "Amongst other places where he -had served as ostler was a small inn at Hounslow, much frequented by -highwaymen, whose exploits he was fond of narrating, especially those -of Jerry Abershaw, who, he said, was a capital rider." Abershaw, he -would frequently add, however, was decidedly inferior to Galloping -Dick, who was a pal of Abershaw's. I learned from him that both were -capital customers at the Hounslow inn, and that he had frequently drunk -with them in the corn-room. He said no man could desire more jolly -or entertaining companions over a glass of "summat"; but that upon -the road it was anything but desirable to meet them: there they were -terrible, cursing and swearing, and thrusting the muzzles of their -pistols into people's mouths; and at this part of his locution the old -man winked and said, in a somewhat lower voice, that upon the whole -they were right in doing so, and that when a person had once made up -his mind to become a highwayman, his best policy was to go the whole -hog, fearing nothing, but making everybody afraid of him; that people -never thought of resisting a savage-faced, foul-mouthed highwayman, -and if he were taken, they were afraid to bear witness against him, -lest he should get off and then cut their throats some time or other, -upon the roads; whereas people would resist being robbed by a sneaking, -pale-visaged rascal, and would swear boldly against him on the first -opportunity: adding, that Ferguson and Abershaw, two most awful -fellows, had enjoyed a long career; whereas, two disbanded officers -of the army, who wished to rob a coach like gentlemen, had begged the -passengers' pardon, and talked of hard necessity, had been set upon by -the passengers themselves, amongst whom were three women, pulled from -their horses, conducted to Maidstone, and hanged with as little pity as -such contemptible fellows deserved. "There is nothing like going the -whole hog," he repeated, "and if ever I had been a highwayman, I should -have thought myself all the more safe; and, moreover, shouldn't have -despised myself. To curry favour with those you are robbing, sometimes -at the expense of your own comrades, as I have known fellows do, why, -it is the greatest——" - -"So it is," interposed the postilion. - -The newspapers of those times afford deeply interesting reading. Very -few of them but contain some startling item of highway robbery, or -news of the capture or trial of the highwaymen who dared even to ply -their trade within sight of the streets. It seems so very long ago, and -it all has an extraordinary air of unreality. Even although you turn -over the small quarto and foolscap pages of those daily and evening, -or weekly or bi-weekly sheets, these things seem the stuff that dreams -are made of; but if the items of news give that effect, certainly -when you turn to the advertising columns, you feel once more that -you are in touch with actualities. The same quacks, or rather their -great-great-grandfathers, are puffing the same kinds of goods, and even -the blackguard fellows who figure, with their own "brainy" or impudent -faces, in the advertising pages of twentieth-century popular magazines, -and successfully gull hundreds of thousands of simpletons, have their -ancestors posturing in these yellowing sheets. They are not so boldly -"displayed," for the mechanical possibilities of the age did not -permit of it, and they of necessity appealed only to hundreds, instead -of the hundred thousand; but they are at one, in all essentials, -with the creatures who nowadays make "this unparalleled offer to -YOU," and rudely point a finger at you out of the page. In the _Grub -Street Journal_ for 1737 and succeeding years, and in its numerous -contemporaries are to be found advertised the "greatest Restorative -in the world," cures for consumption, marvellous literary works, -without which life would be a blank, and a certain Dr. Newman's vile -electuaries. Dr. Newman advertised largely and long, and he generally -included a quaint little woodcut of himself, seated at a table, and -with a box of his beastly pills (comparatively the size of a saucepan) -on the table beside him, with a bottle of his medicine, apparently -supplied in two-gallon carboys, keeping it company. He is the ancestor, -you perceive, as you observe him staring out of the page, of all those -modern pushful persons, who seem to think that by picturing themselves -in their advertisements of how to add to your stature, to add to your -purse, or turn your nose down, your ears in, to grow stouter or leaner, -or what not, their statements are by some mysterious means fortified -and endorsed. - -[Illustration: DR. NEWMAN AND HIS PILLS.] - -The quaintest things are advertised in these old journals. A coachman -in Long-Acre has devised a bullet-proof postchaise, or chariot, in -which "any Gentleman may travel with Safety and not less Expedition -than heretofore." It is claimed to be proof against any weapons carried -by highwaymen. - -Mr. Lott, of Maidstone, who, in several of his advertisements, "Begs -leave to acquaint all Gentlemen and others (others!) that he has taken -a large House in Beer-Cart Lane," advertises sporting and other guns, -and has a very choice assortment of pistols "for Gentlemen travelling," -perhaps also—who knows?—purchased by highwaymen on the look-out for -those travelling gentlemen. His advertisement is embellished most -remarkably with a somebody, whether gentleman or highwayman, it would -be difficult to say—but it looks not altogether unlike a conventional -representation of the devil. On due reconsideration, however, it would -appear to be a sportsman, for he is accompanied by what may be taken -for a dog. What kind of sport he expects to get with the gun he holds -in his left hand, with the remarkable kink in the barrel, it would be -impossible to say; but the pistol he flourishes in his right looks -lethal enough to do the business of any highwayman that ever patrolled -the roads and spoke with the coaches. - -[Illustration: EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ADVERTISEMENT.] - -Even in those times, there were people who strove to abolish capital -punishment; and the advertisement columns of these old journals bear -witness to the fact, in the announcement of a pamphlet, priced at -only sixpence, displaying arguments in favour of discontinuing the -death-penalty. On one occasion it is printed next to a paragraph -which records briefly how a highwayman, disappointed at not getting -sufficient plunder, shot a poor traveller on the road near Staines. "We -hear," says the journal, "that the man has since dy'd of his Wounds." -This curious juxtaposition looks uncommonly like a sly example of -editorial sarcasm at the expense of the excellent advertiser: a hint -after the style of the sardonic French philosopher's comment upon the -similar proposal to remit the death penalty upon murderers: "_que -messieurs les assassins commencent_." - -The newspapers and the magazines alike contain the most startling -commentaries upon life as lived in London during the eighteenth -century. Thus we read, in an obscure paragraph, how the French mail -was robbed in Piccadilly, by the valise containing the bags being cut -off the postchaise. The occasion was not so exceptional that it would -demand more than a few lines. But in those days newspapers had not -discovered the way of exploiting news for all it was worth, and more, -by the twin arts of the artful headline and the redundant adjective. - -Again, it was late in September 1750, Horace Walpole tells us, and he -was sitting in his dining-room in Arlington Street, close upon eleven -o'clock one Sunday night, when he heard a loud cry of "Stop thief!" A -highwayman had attacked a postchaise in Piccadilly, at the corner of -Arlington Street, and, being pursued, rode over a watchman and almost -killed him. He escaped, of course. - -Across the way, on the west side of Berkeley Street, the curious sunk -thoroughfare, known as Lansdowne Passage, (the name as painted up is -spelled wrongly, without the concluding "e") dividing the gardens of -Lansdowne House and the Duke of Devonshire's mansion, is connected with -a highwayman story of some eighteen years later. The entrance to this -passage-way for pedestrians is divided by an iron bar, which renders -it impossible for anything more bulky than a man to squeeze through, -and there are even some particularly stout persons who might find it -difficult to pass. The passage conducts to Curzon Street, and is at -such a low level that a flight of steps leads down to it, through the -narrow opening. - -[Illustration: LANSDOWNE PASSAGE.] - -The iron bar dates from about 1768, and was placed there immediately -after the sensation caused by a mounted highwayman, who, having -committed a robbery in Piccadilly, evaded his pursuers by riding up -Berkeley Street and down the steps of Lansdowne Passage, and so through -it and into Bolton Street, at a gallop. - -When such things as those just narrated were possible, it is only a -little more surprising to read how Sir John Fielding, the Bow Street -magistrate, could raid a masquerade ball, on March 6th, 1753, in -search of highwaymen. He had received information that some of the -profession would be present, and went with his men and entered the -gaming-room, and obliged all the company to unmask and give an account -of themselves. "It is supposed," says the _Gentleman's Magazine_, -"those fellows had notice of his coming before he could get upstairs, -and so made off in the crowd, for none of them were taken." There had -been deep gaming that night, and a plentiful circulation of bad guineas. - -It is amazing to modern readers who read of the notoriety in which the -highwaymen often lived, that they should have been suffered to appear -in public so frequently, and yet their profession to be so well known. -At Ranelagh, at Vauxhall, at the fashionable coffee-houses they were -found, enjoying the gaieties of the town, and reading, no doubt, in -the newspapers of the day, accounts of their own enterprises of a day -or two earlier. There was a certain or an uncertain period of grace -allowed most of these fine fellows, whose careers, long or short, were -very largely lengthened or shortened by the amount of the rewards that -presently began to be offered for their apprehension. The convenience -or safety of the long-suffering public was never consulted. It never -is. Then and now, the public existed, and still exists, for the support -of officials and functionaries. That is what we of the unofficial -classes are here for. This system, carried to its logical conclusion, -may be best studied in France and Germany, but we in England are fast -advancing on the same lines. - -In the days of the highwaymen, the system worked, in respect of them, -in this way: they were not worth catching until a reward was offered, -and it even then remained a nice point whether it were not better to -wait until a still larger reward was advertised, before closing in -upon the fellows and haling them before the magistrates. You had -simply to watch the "public form," so to speak, of your man, just as -people accustomed to bet upon horse-races watch the performances of the -animal they favour. If your highwayman were a dashing and enterprising -fellow, likely to make much of a stir in his line, it was obviously -not worth the while to collar him for the sake of a mere £40 reward -offered for the apprehension of a highwayman. You just waited until he -became a notorious person, with some great deeds to his credit—a big -haul of guineas or jewellery, or perhaps even a murder. Then he would -be worth £100, or, in extreme cases, even more; and then only would he -be taken, unless, indeed, some foolish competitive busybody officiously -intervened, and got him before he had quite ripened. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -THE HIGHWAYMEN OF WILTSHIRE AND SALISBURY PLAIN—MR. JOSEPH READER'S -ADVENTURE—THE CHERHILL GANG—"CLIBBORN'S POST"—MURDER OF MR. -MELLISH—CLOSE OF THE HIGHWAYMAN ERA - - -Many of the stories in these pages are concerned with the doings of -highwaymen in the districts near London, but the neighbourhood of -almost every town was infested in degree, and there are few local -histories, and fewer of the older newspaper files, that do not afford -curious reading in the highway robbery sort, intermingled with -advertisements offering rewards for the apprehension of horse- and -sheep-stealers and fugitive husbands who have left their wives and -families chargeable upon the parish. The neighbourhoods of Devizes -and Salisbury seem to have been exceptionally favoured with these -miscellaneous rascals, no doubt because those two places stood at -either extreme of what long remained the wild and desolate region -including Salisbury Plain, where, although the great roads to Bath and -Exeter brought a considerable traffic, the houses were few and far -between. It was an ideal district for evil-doers, and there are a very -considerable literature and a very startling series of incidents in -this sort, connected with it.[1] - -A curious incident is that told on an old broadsheet printed in 1712, -and sold at the usual broadsheet price of one penny, of the hanging -of a highwayman by one of the travellers he attacked. On Saturday, -February 2nd, in that year, a Mr. Nat. Seager, a maltster, took horse -from Shaftesbury for Blandford, to buy corn in Blandford market. He had -only gone two miles and had descended into the plain from the hill-top -town, when "he was attack'd by a Highway-Man and a pistol clap'd to his -Breast, with the Word of Command 'God D—n you, you old Dog, alight and -deliver.'" - -Mr. Seager, very much terrified, dismounted, or perhaps, rather, -tumbled off his horse, and threw the man £3 in silver; but the -highwayman was not content with this. "It was not all," he said; and, -rapping out another oath, he drew a broadsword and gave Mr. Seager a -cut on the shoulder. Whereupon Mr. Seager produced twenty-four guineas -more, with which the highwayman rode off contented, leaving the -unfortunate maltster bleeding on the ground. - -In a little while there came along the road another traveller, Mr. -Joseph Reader, miller, of Shaftesbury, whistling upon his way, -according to his habit. - -"What is the matter?" he asked, surprised to see his friend and -neighbour lying there, all gory. - -Seager told him. - -"Master," said Reader, "lend me your horse, and I will endeavour to -overtake the rogue, if you will describe him to me." - -"He has a great blue coat, and a sorrel horse," replied Seager: and -with that, Reader mounted and hastened the way he had gone. - -It was not long before he overtook the highwayman, who was waiting for -more prey, and thought he saw it in Reader. Twice he fired pistols at -him, and twice he missed; and then Reader, who was by far the stronger -of the two, smote him with a cudgel he carried, and dragged him from -his horse. At this moment Seager came up and found them struggling on -the ground, and Reader immediately despatched him for aid. - -But when he was gone, and our brave miller had opportunity for -reflection, it occurred to him that his adversary might by some means -get the better of him, after all, before help arrived; and so he stood -the risk of losing the £40 reward due to him for taking a highwayman. -That was a risk not to be entertained, and "therefore," said he, "I'll -e'en hang him myself." And so he did. Striking him insensible, he -dragged the unlucky man to a wayside tree, and hanged him from it by -his own belt. - -The highwayman had not long given up the ghost before Seager returned, -at the head of the Sheriff's posse; when the miller learned, much -to his dismay, that, by acting as hangman upon one who had not been -brought to trial, he had put himself in very grave peril. - -In fact, the law, resenting this interference with its prerogative, had -a good deal to say to Mr. Joseph Reader, who was brought to trial at -Dorchester before Mr. Justice Coker, at the next assizes, and charged -with murder. Fortunately, he was acquitted, and his resourcefulness -properly acknowledged by a subscription of over £30, made up for him in -Court. - -Not only solitary highwaymen, but bands of marauders, scoured the -treeless and hedgeless wastes of Salisbury Plain and its neighbourhood. -One of these was known as the "Cherhill Gang," and chiefly favoured the -locality between Marlborough, Calne, and Devizes. Individual members of -this brotherhood were taken from time to time, hanged at Devizes, and -afterwards gibbeted at a spot high on the downs, between Beckhampton -and Cherhill. The remaining members of the band and the friends and -relations of the departed of course bitterly resented this kind of -post-mortem publicity, and very often they would either come by night -and saw through the post of the gibbet and so bring the whole thing -to the ground, or would climb up the post and bring down the tattered -relics of their friend, swinging there in his chains or his iron cage, -and give it decent burial. There is much to be said in favour of them. -But after this had continued for some time, the authorities hit upon -a plan of binding the lower portion of the gibbet round with iron, of -tarring it, and of driving some hundreds of nails half-way into the -post, just by way of deterrents to climbers and others. - -A very pretty story—pretty in its peculiar way—is told of Serjeant -Merewether successfully defending one of the Cherhill Gang at the -assizes, and of his being robbed of his fee that night, by his -interesting client, when on his return home. - -Another member of the same gang had the peculiar fancy of stripping -himself perfectly naked, by night, and then springing out of a wayside -bush upon the startled traveller. The unexpected spectacle, he said, -was so alarming that robbery became very easy. But this was probably -only a midsummer freak. Imagination refuses to contemplate even the -most desperate highwaymen in midwinter, when snow-squalls swept -Marlborough Downs, emulating those picturesque figures, the naked -aborigines of the poet's vision: - - When, wild in woods, the noble savage ran. - -I will quote here but one of the many old newspaper reports of doings -on this spot, but that a picturesque one. The date is January 1743: "A -captain in the army, who was going to Bath in a postchaise, was stopped -near Sandy Lane by two highwaymen, by one of whom he was told that he -wanted but a guinea, which he hoped to be soon able to pay him again. -The captain gave him the guinea, and the fellow gave the driver a -shilling, and told the gentleman if he was stopped by any one else, to -say 'Virgin Mary,' that being the watchword for the day. They had not -gone far before they were stopped by four persons; but on being given -the watchword, they raised their hats, and rode off." - -[Illustration: "CLIBBORN'S POST."] - -The visible relics of the highwaymen are few, but among them that -of "Clibborn's Post" is peculiarly interesting. This relic is found -in Hertfordshire, in the neighbourhood of that fine old Elizabethan -manor-house, now a farm, but famed in romance, Queen Hoo Hall. On the -way from Tewin and Queen Hoo Hall to Bramfield, the wooded lane rises -in a curve to the summit of what is known locally as "Open Valley -Hill." Here, on the grassy bank, firmly planted in the soil, stands -a stout, oaken post, carefully bound with strips of iron. This is -"Clibborn's Post," the modern successor of the original stake driven -through the body of a brutal highwayman of that name, shot dead at this -spot in the act of attacking a farmer who was on his way home from -Hertford Market to Datchworth. This occurrence happened on December -28th, 1782. There had, about that time, been many highway robberies -committed on the country roads in this neighbourhood; but no one had -been able to identify the desperado, who had plunged the countryside, -and especially the week-end market folk, into such terror. On this -particular night this farmer was driving home in a cart, accompanied by -a servant named Shock. Just as they reached this spot—then, as now, a -lonely place surrounded by tangled undergrowth and dense plantations—a -man rushed out from the thickets and seized the horse's reins. The -farmer jumped down to struggle with him, but his assailant was getting -the upper hand, and was in the act of unclasping a knife to cut his -throat, when the farmer called out to his servant, who carried a -blunderbuss: "Shoot, Shock, or I am a dead man!" Shock had been afraid -to fire, thinking he might hit the wrong man, but, on this command, -he let fly, and shot the highwayman dead. When they examined the body -they found it to be that of a pieman named Clibborn, a well-known and -ostensibly honest person who frequented the Hertford inns on market -day, selling pies to the farmers and others. He had opportunities of -noting those who would be carrying large sums of money home with them; -and, leaving early, waylaid them in some lonely spot such as this. - -It was still, at the close of the eighteenth century, abundantly -possible for peaceful travellers along the roads to be killed by -highwaymen: Mr. Mellish, a city merchant, returning from a day with -the King's hounds, in company with two friends, named Bosanquet and -Pole, having been shot dead by a gang, who attacked and robbed the -carriage in which they were travelling, when near Sipson Green, on the -Bath Road. It was a wanton act, too; the travellers having disbursed -their money on demand, and the carriage already starting off again -for Hounslow when one of the gang fired a shot after it. Mr. Mellish, -sitting with his back to the horses, was struck in the forehead. It -is probable that the highwayman intended no more than to warn the -occupants of the carriage that he and his fellows really were fully -armed, and that they had therefore better hasten away as quickly as -they could; but the intention is immaterial: the unfortunate man was -killed, and the highwaymen were never captured. - -The nineteenth century opened badly for the highwaymen, for not only -had the business of banking and the payment of money by cheque grown -largely, but Pitt's Act for Restricting Cash Payments, passed in -1797, had led to fewer large amounts in coin being carried about their -persons by unprotected travellers. Nothing was more remarkable than -the great sums of money that seem to have been carried by all classes -in the periods already discussed; and in those circumstances lay the -highwaymen's opportunity. But now they had fewer and smaller takings -in coin, practically a choice only between watches and jewellery and -bank-notes: very dangerous classes of property to handle unlawfully. - -But if their takings were less, their numbers were scarcely fewer; and -the gibbets were still not infrequently replenished. Thus, a highwayman -named Haines was, in May 1799, gibbeted on Hounslow Heath, just where -the Bath and the Exeter roads part company, at the western extremity -of Hounslow town. A curious item in the _Annual Register_ for that -year proves—if proof were wanted—that the spectacle of his hanging had -been a popular sight; for there we read an account of how a party of -eight gentlemen, who had been out for the day to witness the spectacle, -ferried over the Thames to the "Flower Pot" inn at Sunbury that night, -at ten o'clock, presumably with the intention of "making a night of -it." It may not be uncharitable to suppose that they had already taken -more than sufficient, for in crossing the river, the boat was upset and -three of them were drowned. - -The stumps of the gibbets that formerly stood at the fork of the Exeter -and the Bath roads, at the western end of Hounslow were discovered in -1899, when the road was excavated for the electric tramways that now -pass the spot. - -At the close of the eighteenth century, the approaches to London -again became so dangerous that it was necessary to institute some -kind of protection. This was established in 1805, under the name of -the Bow Street Patrol, and was organised, as its name implies, from -the principal London police-office. This was a forerunner of the -existing horse-patrols of the Metropolitan Police, to be now and -again encountered at night on lonely suburban roads in these far more -secure times of ours. Even Hounslow Heath and Finchley Common grew -comparatively safe when this armed and efficient force got to work. -They were probably not in full existence when the poet Campbell and his -wife, walking on Sydenham Common in that year, were confronted by a -mounted highwayman who demanded their money, with menaces. An alarm was -promptly raised, and he was pursued and captured; when he was found to -be a resident of the neighbourhood. - -In the provinces the era of the highwaymen was longer lived. The roads -between Arundel and Chichester were in 1807, for example, haunted by -one Allen, a highwayman who preyed chiefly upon the farmers coming -home with well-filled purses from market. The militia were called out -to capture him, and thus, in these peculiarly glorious circumstances -of war, he was shot dead near Midhurst, while endeavouring to escape -arrest. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -THE LITERATURE OF THE LATER HIGHWAYMEN - - -Since Smith and Johnson's days, the literature of the highwaymen -has declined in quality and increased in output. The history of -the highwaymen has never been reconsidered or restated since they -flourished, and no one has ever attempted to extend it from 1742. Not -even Turpin appears in Johnson's folio, published three years earlier -than that "hero's" execution at York: an omission which seems amply to -prove that Turpin's contemporaries did not consider him a particularly -interesting or notable person. - -Yet, although nothing has been done to tell the story of the highwaymen -who flourished numerously long after Smith and Johnson had completed -their works, there is an abundance of materials for the purpose. -They are not nice materials. Distinctly unappetising trials for the -most part, "last dying speeches and confessions," usually impudent -fabrications, and, when not entirely un-authentic, generally the -utterly unreadable productions of the Ordinaries of Newgate and other -prisons, who turned an honest, if somewhat discreditable, penny in -hearing the generally boastful and lying accounts by prisoners of -their crimes and adventures; seldom writing them down from dictation, -and commonly but imperfectly memorising them, and only setting down -their general sense. That is why the very numerous "authentic" lives, -last dying speeches, and confessions of the highwaymen and others, -written out by the Ordinaries and usually attested at the end by -the criminals themselves, are so bald and unconvincing. An outside -rival production was, as a general rule, a good deal more spicy, and -although unauthorised, not necessarily less truthful. The "official" -productions, as we may term them, were of a stereotyped fashion, -ballasted with an intolerable deal of moral reflections, and written -in a heavy-handed way that by no means reflected the convict's own -generally keen relish of his own villainies. We should not mind all -this, if we knew the Ordinaries to have been good and earnest men; -but they were nothing of the kind. By education gentlemen, and by -virtue of their holy orders bound to maintain the law and the Gospel, -they were nevertheless a pack of intolerable scoundrels, drunken and -dissolute, and not infrequently as fitted for the cells as the unhappy -prisoners in the Stone Jug, to whom on Sundays in the prison chapel -they preached Hell and Damnation, the Burning Lake and Everlasting -Torment. The publication of the last dying speeches and confessions of -their interesting charges was the perquisite of these unworthy men, -and it was one of the most indefensible of privileges in that age of -perquisites. - -Thus the pamphlets they issued and grew fat upon soon pall upon us. -There are, however, other sources: the "Newgate Sessions Papers," the -somewhat too famous "Newgate Calendar," which shared with the Bible the -favour of George Borrow; the "New Newgate Calendar"; the "Malefactors' -Bloody Register," and other atrocious "literature"—to give it the -conventional title bestowed without discrimination upon all printed -matter. - -I am sorry for myself, after having perused those dreadful pages, and -many other like authorities, in search of the romantic highwayman as -seen in fiction. I have not found him, but I have found plentiful -evidence of the existence of innumerable ineffable blackguards and -irreclaimable villains of the most sordid, unrelieved type: bestially -immoral, tigerishly cruel, and cringing cowards until they were safely -jugged, when their cowardice was exchanged for a certain callousness. -There were exceptions, but the general effect of reading these -originals is an effect of moral and material muddiness, of a personal -uncleanliness not a little distressing. It would even have a lasting -effect of depression, were it not abundantly evident that these things -are of a day that is done. They are part of those "good old times" -that, happily, are not our times. - -Fortunately, even among this extensive literature, it is possible to -find some human touches; here and there to trace some humorous rogue -and find him entertaining. - -Rather late in the day comes James Catnach, with his penny chapbooks -and broadsides. He is not elevating, and is often vulgar. The more -vulgar his productions, the better they sold. I don't think he quite -realised that point, but some modern popular publishing firms have, -and profit hugely by it, for vulgarity is popular and pays enormously. -If Jemmy Catnach, of Nos. 2 and 3, Monmouth Court, Little Earl Street, -hard by the Seven Dials, had fully grasped this point, he would have -died worth very much more than the £3,000, £5,000, or even £10,000 he -was represented to have left when he quitted this life, about 1841. - -James Catnach commenced business about 1813. His publications were all -issued at the popular price of one penny, and covered every subject -likely to attract the sympathies of the lower classes. Not quite the -lowest classes, for they could not at that time read at all. We must -not suppose that he dealt only in the horrible. Not by any means. -You might buy of him for the nimble penny the history of Goody Two -Shoes, the story of Jack the Giant Killer, the affecting tale of Cock -Robin, or the even more affecting story of the Babes in the Wood. The -"Soldier's Farewell to Home and Parents," in which the illustration is -intrinsically so rough, and the paper and print are so abominable, that -it is difficult to see which is the soldier and which are the parents, -showed that maudlin sentiment was very profitable. He published also -a large selection of patriotic, amorous, and tearful ballads; but -it is sadly to be confessed that his penny murders were by far the -most popular. He had no penny Sunday papers and no halfpenny evenings -to compete with him, and the daily and weekly journals ranged from -threepence to eightpence. His only competitors were the garret, cellar, -and kitchen printers of his own kidney: Birt, of the neighbouring Great -St. Andrew Street, and others. But he was the chief of them, the most -industrious, and the most successful. He and his small staff in 1824 -printed in eight days, off four formes, no fewer than 500,000 copies -of an account of the murder of Mr. Weare by Thurtell, and bagged £500 -profit on the business. His customers were a low and dirty mob of -pedlars, hawkers, and street-sellers, who paid chiefly in coppers, and -dirty ones at that. Those were the days when pennies and halfpennies -were really coppers, and not, as now, bronze; and they were large. A -penny weighed one ounce, and was an appreciable weight in the pocket: -sixpence in coppers was a burden. The coppers Catnach received in the -way of his business were a nuisance to him, and he was afraid, from -their filthy condition, that they would also be infectious, and so -he generally boiled them in a solution of potash and vinegar. In the -almost vain endeavour to dispose of them he was accustomed to pay the -wages of his boys and men in coppers, from ten shillingsworth to forty -shillingsworth, and even then had to arduously load up vehicles with -the rest, for the bank. His back kitchen was paved with bad pennies set -in concrete. - -The lives and adventures of the highwaymen were always a safe sale. -Like most of his rudely illustrated productions, they were embellished -by his own ingenious hand. The backs of old engraved plates of music -served him instead of wood-blocks, and these he engraved upon, -apparently with a chopper and a hammer, if we may judge by the -startling results. He could have taught Thomas Bewick a thing or two -in breadth of treatment, and in his noble scorn of detail (or in his -inability to execute it, whichever it was) he was undoubtedly the first -of the Impressionists. He was rather good at devils, and supreme in -picturing a ferocious villain; but not successful in representing a -village beauty. - -He issued a very good edition of the _Life and Adventures of Dick -Turpin_ at the usual price of one penny: good beyond his common run, -because he seems to have employed some one to engrave the pictorial -cover for him, and you can really distinguish quite easily between -Black Bess and the turnpike-gate, over which that gallant mare is shown -to be jumping. Dick Turpin, in this production, affects a jockey-cap. - -Birt, of Great St. Andrew Street, was another of the many small -printers, who issued popular and ill-printed penny lives of Turpin in -the days before the boys' penny papers issued in frowsy courts off -Fleet Street, began to print long, long romances of him and Tom King, -always to be "continued in our next." Birt shows us what purports -to be a portrait of Turpin, no doubt from some strictly un-authentic -source, and the short narrative ends with the picture of an execution, -in which alone the purchaser had his money's worth, for we see two -criminals hanging: Turpin and another, who would seem, so far as -appearances go, to be his twin brother. It is a new light upon the life -and death of the hero. - -[Illustration: [++] TWO MEN HANGING.] - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -THE NEWGATE CHAPLAINS: SAMUEL SMITH, PAUL LORRAIN, THOMAS PURENEY—THE -PRISON LIFE - - -The Chaplains, or Ordinaries, of Newgate were amply provided for. -The presentation to the office was in the gift of the Lord Mayor and -aldermen, and included a residence in Newgate street, in addition -to the salary, a legacy of £10 a year paid by the Governors of St. -Bartholomew's Hospital, an annual £6 from Lady Barnardiston's legacy, -and what are described as "two freedoms yearly," which generally sold -for £25 each. In addition to these, the city usually presented the -Ordinary with one other, annually. By 1779 it appears that he no longer -enjoyed the freedoms, but his salary was augmented to £180, and, in -addition, he received £3 12s. 0d. a year from the sheriffs. - -Surely this was a stipend ample enough for the class of men who held -the office, especially as the divines who generally obtained it did -very well out of the "authentic" lives of the criminals to whom they -extended ghostly counsel. The "Bishop of Newgate" was the slang term -for the Ordinary, and so well—though not so admirably—did the men, who, -in a long succession, filled the office, fit into the place, that we -but rarely find one translated to other fields of activity. They lived -and died Ordinaries of Newgate. Even a good man might have become -degraded by the place and its fearful management, but the men appointed -were of the worst type, and a disgrace to the Church. - -The Reverend Paul Lorrain and the Reverend Thomas Pureney were -typical Ordinaries, blusterous, bloated, and snuffy; ready with a -threadbare tag from an easy classic; profaning the Scriptures with -vinous hiccoughs; more keen to nose a revelation for their delectable -broadsides and hypocritical pamphlets than to lead a sinner to -repentance, even if they knew the way; and always with an alert eye on -the main chance. - -Lorrain succeeded one Samuel Smith in 1698, and held the post until -his death, in 1719. He was most diligent in the production of those -"official" accounts of the lives, confessions, and last dying speeches -of the criminals, which were printed and sold largely, and thus formed -a considerable augmentation to the salary of himself and his kind. -A collection of forty-eight of these curious pamphlets, written by -him, is found in the British Museum. We turn to them with expectancy, -but from them with disgust. With every advantage at their command in -this peculiar form of authorship, the Reverend Paul Lorrain and his -successors failed to produce anything but the most insufficient of -lives, the most commonplace confessions, and the most threadbare last -dying speeches, garnished with haphazard texts. - -Generally published at eight in the morning of the day after the -respective executions, they had their public; but the very cream of the -sale was skimmed off on the actual day of the execution by unlicensed -publications, and it was usually quite easy for the doomed men going -to Tyburn to purchase a penny biography of themselves, and to read -what they had said at the last moment, before the last moment itself -was reached. In Hogarth's print of the end of the Idle Apprentice at -Tyburn, the "Last Dying Speech and Confession of Thomas Idle" is being -bawled out at the moment of his hearing the final ministrations in the -cart. Obviously, these productions could not be "authentic," in so far, -at least, as the concluding scenes were concerned; but there is that -journalistic _flair_ about many of those that have survived the bad -paper and the worse ink with which they were produced, which shows a -full comprehension of what the public wanted. And whatsoever the public -wants, it is the journalist's business to see it duly gets. There is -more resource, more touch with life, in these than in the works of the -Ordinaries. - -A certain low and undistinguished feeling of pedantry runs through all -those clerical issues. The Reverend Mr. Paul Lorrain, or the equally -Reverend Mr. Thomas Pureney, tells us of such and such an one, that, -"departing from the early paths of Virtue and Integrity, where the -Flowers of Innocency may be pluckt," (much _they_ knew of such things, -to be sure!) "he stray'd among the Profligate and the Abandon'd, and -became a Highway Man." - -Such stuff! All very well for copy-book maxims or good books for -well-behaved children; but the streets wanted stronger meat than this; -and they got it. In the unauthorised lives of the various malefactors, -written for the appreciation of the crowd, it may be read how such -a youthful innocent as the one described above in so sesquipedalian -a style, "was a practis'd prig at eleven years of age. He stole his -Father's Cash-Box, and, coming with it to London, spent the Contents in -the gayeties of the Town." Precocious youth! But precocity is not, as -many suppose, a Twentieth-Century portent. - -"He soon became a Flash Cull and set up half a dozen Doxies of his own, -who empty'd his Pockets as soon as he filled 'em." Nothing at all about -the early paths of Virtue and Integrity in this, it will be observed. - -"He then, observing that more was to be made in one Night's -good-fortune under the Stars than in a week of snatching the Bung -or cly-filing in the streets, and with less danger, in it, became a -Collector of Tolls upon the High-Way." - -That was your true penny style for the streets. It was sympathetic and -understood, which the "Flowers of Innocency" business was not. - -Paul Lorrain and his brethren never failed with the moral lesson, -however little they themselves believed in it; and always, you will -find, who read their nauseating pages, that those who had the -misfortune to sit to them for their biographies were "truly penitent," -"moved to contrition," or "heartily renounced their Wicked and -profligate course of life," and the like. - -And yet nothing is more certain than that the larger number of them -went to death impenitent and hardened. The better sort were merely -sulky; the worse cursed and flung indecent quips to the crowd, all -the way to the gallows. Nor need there be much wonder at it. To die -for taking a purse from a traveller must have seemed even to an -eighteenth-century highwayman, born into this state of things and -bound to suffer by it, an extravagant penalty. Temperament, sanguine -or otherwise, did the rest, and conditioned his attitude on the Tyburn -journey. - -The Reverend Thomas Pureney had a way of his own with sinners. He -could not make them truly penitent, but he could, and did, frighten -them almost into convulsions by a way he had in preaching. He was a -nasty person, among a succession of forbidding persons. He stumbled -as he walked: his nose and cheeks flamed with intemperance in drink: -he took the flavour of the pot-house with him whithersoever he went. -Nay, he even, as a youth, before ever he was educated for the Church, -had thoughts of himself going upon the highway, and indeed actually -began the business of taking things without leave of the owners of -them. His first and only essay in this sort was the handling of a -silver flagon and two volumes of sermons, which he was conveying from -the rectory of his native place in Cambridgeshire, when the excellent -clergyman discovered him with this singular booty and lectured him, -not unamiably. He would certainly end his days in Newgate, prosed the -good man, if he did not instantly see the error of his youthful ways, -and reform. Why, that very reform, so far as it went, served, strange -to say, to land him, years later, at Newgate; and there he ended, -after all; but very differently from the fashion the old clergyman had -foreseen. - -His respectable parent soon after this youthful escapade entered him -at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and there he assimilated as much -learning as sufficed to place him in holy orders. But he had not been, -in any sense of the word, a moral man while at the University, and -although he found a curacy at Newmarket, it was with a reputation which -rather fitted him for the society of the racecourse than for the pulpit -that he went there. - -The eighteenth century demanded little of a clergyman, but even -that little our Pureney could not render, and he was flung out with -ignominy, even from Newmarket. Drink and flagrant immorality were the -undoing of him there, and the rumours of his evil ways long followed -him about, and prevented him securing another post, until at last that -of Ordinary at Newgate was tossed contemptuously to him. The suggestion -of that office—insult though it would have been to a decent man—found -in him a ready and grateful acceptance. No standard of conduct was -required, and, joy of joys! he became pastor among the very kind of -heroes who had fired the imagination of his perusing youth. - -He lorded it over those caged gaol-birds with imperious ways for thirty -years, and in that time had the fortune to hob and nob with many a -famous rogue. Jack Sheppard and many a lesser light sat under him in -the prison chapel and listened to his outrageous sermons, promising -damnation and everlasting torment; and he had the singular fortune to -call the infamous Jonathan Wild a crony for some years, and in the -end, when that appalling scoundrel had been found out and cast for the -shameful death to which he had brought so many others, to preach the -worm that dieth not to him also. It is true that, owing to his intimate -acquaintance with Pureney, Wild did not greatly value his discourse, -and sought and obtained the counsel and guidance of an outsider, the -Reverend Mr. Nicholson, to wit, who, he says, "very Christian-like gave -me his assistance"; but the Ordinary came into his own again on the -Sunday, when the condemned, Wild among them, were herded into their -gruesome pew in that most awful of chapels, and had to listen to his -ravings. - -Pureney's account of the life, crimes, conviction and confession of -Jonathan Wild and of other malefactors condemned at the same time -is a folio broadsheet, distinguished among a badly produced class -of literature as surely the very worst-printed, on paper of the -commonest. A rude woodcut at the beginning discloses the Ordinary -in a black Geneva gown, preaching to his charges (an extraordinarily -large Ordinary, and remarkably small convicts), with conventional -representations of Heaven and Hell, to left and right. A Hand, bearing -a celestial crown a good many sizes too large for any of the convicts -here pictured, is seen amid clouds; the Ordinary, not at all astonished -by the phenomenon, pointing to it and continuing his discourse. - -[Illustration: DECORATIVE HEADPIECE FROM PURENEY'S "LIFE AND CONFESSION -OF JONATHAN WILD AND FOUR OTHER MALEFACTORS."] - -Hell's mouth, smoking like the exhaust of an over-lubricated motor-car, -is occupied by a very convincing Devil, armed with an undeniably -business-like trident, who has most certainly got his eye rather -upon the unsuspecting Ordinary than on the weak-kneed group of five -malefactors, one of whom appears by his attitude to prefer Hell to any -more of the Ordinary's exhortation. And, if all accounts of Pureney's -life and death be true, the Devil did get him, after all. - -Such was the type of publication out of which Pureney earned an -addition to his income; but the tale does not quite end here. The -last page is largely occupied with an advertisement of the most -flagrantly indecorous and reprehensible character, of which even an -eighteenth-century clergyman of the Church of England might have been -ashamed. But the clergy fell generally far short of the ideal ministers -and vicars of God. Whether in town or in the country, where "Parson -Trullibers" abounded, they were a disgrace to their office; and even -when they were earnest, which was seldom, provoked criticism by their -extravagance. - -In 1724, when Jack Sheppard, pickpocket and housebreaker, was again -lying in Newgate, after being re-captured, his doings appealed greatly -to the imagination of all. He was the most famous person of that -year, and great crowds thronged to see him. Sir James Thornhill, -the Royal Academician, painted his portrait; chapbooks innumerable, -badly written, and ill-printed, on vile paper, were issued before his -execution and sold in thousands to eager purchasers; and clergymen -took his career for their texts. One ingenious preacher, given to -sensational discourse, outdid all his brethren in thus improving the -occasion: - -"Now, my beloved, what a melancholy consideration it is, that men -should show so much regard for the preservation of a poor, perishing -body, that can remain at most but a few years, and can at the same time -be so unaccountably negligent of eternity. Oh! what care, what pains, -what diligence, and what contrivances are made use of for, and laid out -upon, these frail and tottering tabernacles of clay, when, alas! the -nobler part of us is allowed so very small a share of our concern that -we will scarce give ourselves the trouble of bestowing a thought upon -it. - -"We have, dear brethren, a remarkable instance of this, in a notorious -malefactor, well known by name as Jack Sheppard. What amazing -difficulties has he overcome! What astonishing things has he performed, -for the sake of a stinking, miserable carcase, hardly worth hanging! -How dexterously did he pick the padlock of his chain with a crooked -nail! How manfully burst his fetters asunder, climb up the chimney, -wrench out an iron bar, break his way through a stone wall, and make -the strong door of a dark entry fly before him, till he got upon the -leads of the prison! And then, fixing a blanket to the wall with a -spike, how intrepidly did he descend to the roof of the turner's house, -and how cautiously pass down the stairs and make his escape at the -street door! - -"Oh! that ye were all like Jack Sheppard! Mistake me not, my brothers, -I mean not in a carnal, but in a spiritual sense; for I purpose to -spiritualise these things. What a shame it would be, if we did not -think it worth our while to take as much pains, and employ as many deep -thoughts, to save our souls, as he has done to preserve his body! Let -me exhort you, therefore, to open the locks of your hearts with the -nail of repentance; burst asunder the fetters of your beloved lusts; -mount the chimney of hope, take from thence the bar of good resolution, -break through the stone wall of despair, and all the strongholds in -the dark valley of the shadow of death. Raise yourselves to the leads -of divine meditation; fix the blanket of faith with the spike of the -Church; let yourselves down to the turner's house of resignation, -and descend the stairs of humility. So shall you come to the door of -deliverance from the prison of iniquity, and escape the clutches of -that old executioner, the devil, who 'goeth about like a roaring lion, -seeking whom he may devour.'" - -No doubt the preacher meant well, but his figurative style was too -pronounced. - -It is easy and proper to be severe on the subject of the Newgate -chaplains, but perhaps some allowance should be made for them, -on the score of the associations of prison life, always bad, but -incredibly degrading in that age. If we except Pureney, who was -himself an instinctive criminal, the Ordinaries could not, all at -once, have become callous and depraved. They were not, of course, men -distinguished for learning or piety, for it was the practice to give -the chaplaincy to the dregs of the profession; but were doubtless, -at the time of their appointment merely average men, eager to obtain -a livelihood. They ran very grave risks, too, in those days when -gaol-fever ravaged the prison, and even infected the sessions-house. -It was highly dangerous to attend the prisoners, often indiscriminate -in their revengeful violence, both in their cells and at the place of -execution. A peculiar incident recorded of an execution at Hertford, on -March 25th, 1723, shows that all manner of indignities were possible. -On that day, when William Summers and another man named Tipping were -turned off, the hangman was so intoxicated, that, supposing three -had been ordered for execution, he insisted on putting a rope round -the parson's neck as he stood in the cart, and was with difficulty -prevented from stringing him up as well. - -[Illustration: SCANDALOUS SCENE AT A HERTFORD EXECUTION.] - -It is only charitable to suppose that the Ordinaries must needs have -been shocked when first introduced to their morally and physically -pestiferous charges, and gradually became used to their surroundings. -Let us take a prisoner typical of those whom these divines attended: - -Valentine Carrick is not so well-known a name as Maclaine, but he -also formed a popular sight during the short interval between his -conviction and execution. "James" Carrick, as he is also styled, was -son of a retired jeweller, who was wealthy enough to set up for a -gentleman, and to purchase his son an ensign's commission in the army. -Like hundreds of others of his class, the young ensign gambled freely; -like most, he lost, and like a large proportion of broken gamesters, -he sought to replenish his pockets by emptying those of travellers on -the King's highway by threats, and at the point of sword or muzzle of -pistol. He was one of the most reckless blades that ever the Stone Jug -had received. He applied the saying of the heedless folk mentioned in -the Bible to his own situation: "Let us eat, drink, and be merry; for -to-morrow we die." Others might laugh and tipple as they passed their -few days in the condemned hold; he did more, for he shouted and sang, -and was generally roaring drunk. - -Hundreds came to see this edifying spectacle, and the Newgate turnkeys -reaped a rich harvest in fees paid by eager sightseers. Such an -extraordinary rush impressed even the prisoner, who appears to have -thought it very stupid. "Good folks," he exclaimed, "you pay for -seeing me now, but if you had suspended your curiosity till I went to -Tyburn, you might have seen me for nothing." The company he kept—and -was by the lax regulations of the prison readily allowed to keep—in -gaol was of the most depraved type. At any rate, these dissolute -companions served to keep up his spirits to the very last, and followed -him to Tyburn itself, where he ended in the same vein: "When he came -to the place of Execution, he smiled upon, and made his Bows to all he -knew. Instead of praying with the rest of the Criminals, he employ'd -that time in Giggling, taking Snuff, and making Apish Motions to divert -himself and the Mob. When Prayers were over, he told them the Sheriffs -had made an order that no Surgeons should touch his Body. The Ordinary -advised him to consider whither he was going, to which he answered -that, being a Roman Catholic, he had receiv'd no Sacrament, and -prepar'd for Death in his own Way; and then, giving himself some pretty -and genteel Airs (as he seem'd to think 'em) in adjusting the Halter -about his Neck, the Cart was drawn away." - -So far from contrition and repentance being found in Newgate, the -prison was generally, as we have seen, the riotous finish of an -ill-spent life. The interest with which they were regarded effectually -prevented the prisoners from realising themselves the miserable sinners -they were officially declared to be from the chapel pulpit on Sundays. -The times were practically pagan. - -William Hawke, or Hawkes, one of several men at different times styled -the "Flying Highwayman," was greatly honoured. He had been condemned -in July 1774, on the paltry charge of stealing a small quantity of -linen: quite beneath a person of his skill, and, like many another fine -fellow, received very distinguished company as he lay in his dungeon -cell. Rank and fashion, wit and beauty, enlivened his days and made -them pass cheerfully enough. Among others who called upon him was the -eccentric Colonel George Hanger, afterwards fourth Lord Coleraine, who -offered him a handsome price for his horse, to which the high-minded -Hawke warmly responded: "Sir, I am as much obliged to you for your -proposal as for your visit. But," he added in a low tone, and in a wary -manner that implied his increasing confidence, "the mare won't suit -you, perhaps, if you want her for the Road. It is not every man that -can get her up to a carriage." - -Hanger was so exceedingly pleased with this little trait of -professional sympathy that he advanced Hawke £50, to enable him to -offer bribes for his escape; but all efforts in that direction failing, -the highwayman later returned the money, with his grateful thanks. -He was buried in Stepney churchyard, with the following epitaph: -"Farewell, vain world, I've had enough of thee," over him, by his own -desire; an ineffective post-mortem repartee upon the world, which had -already so emphatically proved it had had enough of him. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -THE WATCHMAN, AND THE EXECUTION BELL OF ST. SEPULCHRE - - -Robert Dowe, citizen of London and merchant taylor, who died in 1612, -bequeathed the annual sum of twenty-six shillings and eightpence to -the vicar and churchwardens of St. Sepulchre, for the time being, -for the delivery of a solemn exhortation to the condemned criminals -in Newgate, on the night before their execution. The parish clerk, -or other person that might be appointed for the purpose, it was laid -down by the terms of this bequest, "should come in the night-time, and -likewise early in the morning, to the window of the prison where they -lie, and there ringing certain tolls with a hand-bell appointed for the -purpose, should put them in mind of their present condition and ensuing -execution, desiring them to be prepared therefor, as they ought to be. -When they are in the cart, and brought before the wall of the church, -at the beginning of their journey to Tyburn, there he shall stand -ready with the same bell, and, after certain tolls, he shall rehearse -a certain prayer, desiring all the people there present to pray for -them." - -"Admonition to the Prisoners in Newgate, on the Night before Execution. - - You prisoners that are within, - Who for wickedness and sin, - -after many mercies shown, are now appointed to die to-morrow in the -forenoon: give ear, and understand, that to-morrow morning the greatest -bell of St. Sepulchre shall toll for you, in form and manner of a -passing-bell, as used to be tolled for those that are at the point -of death: to the end that all godly people, hearing that bell, and -knowing it is for your going to your deaths, may be stirred up heartily -to pray to God to bestow His grace and mercy upon you, whilst you -live. I beseech you, for Jesus Christ's sake, to keep this night in -watching and prayer, to the salvation of your own souls, while there -is yet time and place for mercy; as knowing to-morrow you must appear -before the judgment-seat of your Creator, there to give an account -of all things done in this life, and to suffer eternal torments for -your sins committed against Him, unless upon your hearty and unfeigned -repentance, you find mercy through the merits of the death and passion -of your only Mediator and Advocate, Jesus Christ, who now sits at -the right hand of God, to make intercession for as many of you as -penitently return to Him." - -Then followed the: - -"Admonition to the Condemned Criminals as they are passing by St. -Sepulchre's Church-wall to Execution. - -"All good people, pray heartily unto God for these poor sinners, who -are now going to their death, for whom this great bell doth toll. - -"You that are condemned to die, repent with lamentable tears; ask mercy -of the Lord, for the salvation of your own Souls, through the merits of -Jesus Christ. - - Lord have mercy upon you. - Christ have mercy upon you." - -To see that these injunctions were duly carried out, the Beadle of -Merchant Taylors' Hall was given a "modest stipend," but whether any -other person drew a further sum for seeing to it that the Beadle saw -the parish clerk perform the duty does not appear. - -It would seem that, as time went on, the watchman who patrolled the -neighbourhood at night took over the duty of performing the midnight -exhortation. By that time it had been crystallised into poetic form, -and was no doubt, when delivered with due solemnity under the frowning -walls of Newgate at that midnight hour, a very impressive thing. Twelve -o'clock sounded slowly from the belfry of St. Sepulchre, and then, -heard through barred windows in those massive walls of rusticated -masonry, came that deliberate recitation: - - All you that in the condemned hold do lie, - Prepare you, for to-morrow you shall die. - Watch all, and pray, the hour is drawing near, - When you before the Almighty must appear. - Examine well yourselves, in time repent, - That you may not to eternal flames be sent; - Forswear your sins, trust in Christ's merit, - That Heavenly grace you may inherit; - And when St. Sepulchre's bell to-morrow tolls, - The Lord have mercy on your souls! - - Past twelve o'clock! - -[Illustration: THE BELLMAN. - - All you that in the condemned hold do lie, - Prepare you, for to-morrow you shall die.] - -We may imagine, if we pause a moment, with the fearful story of that -historic prison in our minds, the condemned men, merrymaking up -to the last and receiving curious and dissolute visitors in their -imprisonment, having their reckless carousing broken in upon by that -awful message, and halting a moment, with an icy terror striking in -upon their nerves, to realise that this, then, was the last chapter in -their lives. We are not to suppose, however, that these solemn words, -ordained by the excellent Robert Dowe, made a lasting impression on -those for whom they were intended. The passing citizen, or the honest -tradesman lying wakeful in his bed, probably was more deeply impressed. -The criminals themselves, as the long story of them through the -dreadful centuries shows, were mostly callous. They had, the larger -number of them, long over-passed the dread of death; and even with -those who were afraid, it was by tradition a point of honour to take -that last journey to Tyburn as gaily as though they were the central -figures in some merrymaking, instead of going to their own shameful -extinction. Indeed, the populace expected no less, and while they were -ready to applaud the highwayman, who made his exit in gala costume, and -with something that might pass for wit on his lips, and were eager -for the honour of shaking him by the hand, they were not backward with -curses, stones, and mud when some poor devil, unnerved, or perhaps even -penitent, broke down and was drawn, a miserable object, to the gallows. - -But there were those critics who did not believe in the picturesque -nocturnal method of admonishing malefactors of their approaching end. -They did not consider it was possible they could be oblivious of it, or -"as if Men in their Condition you'd have any stomach to Unseasonable -Poetry"; as that "late famous, notorious robber," John Hall, executed -1708, very pertinently remarks in his "Memoirs." - -Did those criminals who were sincerely penitent properly value Mr. Dowe -and his bequest? It is to be feared they did not altogether relish -being woke up from the sleep (if they had any) of their last night -on earth. Of another sort than the generality of them, however, was -Sarah Malcolm, who died in 1733 for the murder of her mistress, Mrs. -Duncombe. "D'ye hear, Mr. Bellman," she shouted out from her window; -"call for a Pint of Wine, and I'll throw you a Shilling to pay for it." - -The great bell of St. Sepulchre continued to toll on the morning of -executions until 1890. It was to have been sounded at the execution -of Mrs. Pearcey, but a guest at the Viaduct Hotel was lying ill at -the time, and a message being conveyed to the vicar, asking that it -might on this occasion be dispensed with, the old custom was then -discontinued, and was not again renewed. It had, in fact, been merely -a sentimental survival since 1888, when the Charity Commissioners -had laid hands upon, and appropriated the £50 left two hundred and -eighty-three years before. The midnight bellman had ceased his warning -cry in 1783, when Tyburn executions ended and Newgate's prisoners began -to be executed in the Old Bailey, on the very threshold of the prison. - -[Illustration: THE "EXECUTION BELL," ST. SEPULCHRE.] - -The original hand-bell reposes in a glass case on the north wall of the -chancel of St. Sepulchre's church, with a suitable inscription. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -HANGMAN'S HIGHWAY: THE ROAD TO TYBURN - - TYBURN: - - _That most celebrated place, - Where angry justice shows her awful face; - Where little villains must submit to fate, - That great ones may enjoy the world in state._ - - -Let us now see something of that road—that _Via Dolorosa_, as we may in -all fitness call it—along which the condemned, highwaymen and others, -went to Tyburn Tree. I shall style it "Hangman's Highway." It is not a -pretty name, and it was never its official designation; but it is an -apt one. Since 1783, when it lost that unenviable notoriety, its social -status has continually risen, and there is now not a more respectable -three-miles stretch of thoroughfare in London. - -It had in remote ages been "Hangman's Highway," for from the west -gateway in the wall of Roman _Londinium_, from the spot in after-years -known as "Newgate," the malefactors of the Roman period were marched -out and done to death. But in mediæval times, the citizens of London, -not then so easily moved at the sight of executions, were content -to allow criminals to be put to death in their midst, and we read -of executions on Cornhill. A little later, and we find Smithfield -chosen; a spot called "The Elms," apparently situated opposite where -St. Bartholomew's Hospital stands, being the place where, not only -criminals of low degree, but many of high rank suffered. Here the -Scottish patriot, Wallace, was hanged in 1305, and here Mortimer was -executed in 1330. - -Holinshed, indeed, deriving his information from Adam Murimuth, tells -a different tale. He says, of Mortimer: "He was at London drawne and -hanged at the commen place of execution called in those daies The -Elmes, and now Tiborne, as in some bookes we find." - -But there is some confusion of ideas here: Tyburn did not become a -place of execution until long after, and St. Giles's was the next site -of the gallows. - -It was a little less than a hundred years later, that the newer -choice was made, for about 1413 we read that the gallows was set up -at the northern boundary of the Leper Hospital of St. Giles, half-way -to Tyburn. It is referred to in ancient documents as the "Novelles -furches," _i.e._ the "new forks": in allusion to the arms of the -gallows-tree. There, in 1417, Sir John Oldcastle was hanged and his -body afterwards burnt. - -But Smithfield was still occasionally the scene of executions, and -there, also, the fires that consumed the Protestant martyrs in the -Marian persecution were lighted. Even so late as 1693, the celebrated -highwayman, Captain James Whitney, was executed at Smithfield, on a -spot known as "Porter's Block," near Cowcross Street. The equally -celebrated, or notorious, John Cottington, called "Mulled Sack," was -hanged at "Smithfield Rounds," some years earlier. - -"The Elms" was also the name of the earlier Tyburn, and much confusion -has naturally arisen over this duplicating of names. The original -Tyburn appears to have been established on the banks of a stream, -which long ago ran across what is now Oxford Street, near Stratford -Place. Here, then, were those other elms, distinct from the fatal -elms of Smithfield.[2] To this place the executions were remitted, no -doubt following upon the remonstrance of some aggrieved person, who -found the gallows of St. Giles injuring his property.[3] The continued -westward progression of Tyburn Tree is, indeed, a sign of the growth -of London in that direction, and a proof of the very natural objection -entertained by residents and owners of property to executions conducted -in front of their windows. - -The Tye Bourne obtained its name from the two branches, in which it -flowed down from the Hampstead heights towards the Thames. The two -streams were something over half a mile apart: the easterly branch -crossing Oxford Street just below Stratford Place, and the westerly—the -"West Bourne," that has itself also disappeared, but has given its -name to Westbourne Grove and Westbourne Terrace—flowing across the -Bayswater Road into Kensington Gardens. Its course lay along what is -now Kensington Gardens Terrace, and does so still: underground, and -enclosed in a pipe. - -A Roman road went due west out of the West Gate of _Londinium_ to -join the Watling Street (which ran from Stangate, Lambeth, across the -Thames at Westminster, in a north-westerly direction to Edgware) at -the present junction of Oxford Street, Bayswater Road, and the Edgware -Road, occupying the line of the existing Oxford Street. It crossed the -eastward branch of the Tye Bourne by a paved ford: the "strat-ford" -_i.e._ "street ford," that long, long ago suggested a name for -Stratford Place. Even the great modern borough of St. Marylebone owes -its name to this bourne, and to the original church of St. Mary, built -not far from its bank. The present Marylebone Lane owes its curious -windings to the fact that it was once a country lane that followed the -twists and turns of the little river. - -St. Marylebone gets its name in a manner worth describing. The original -church of St. John, Tyburn, that had stood from time immemorial -beside the banks of the Tye Bourne, between the Oxford Street end of -what are now Marylebone Lane and Stratford Place, was situated in a -very lonely, yet exposed situation, on the great road from the City -of London to the west. The village centred about where High Street, -Marylebone, is now to be found, and the church and the village pound -stood apart. So often was this original place of worship broken -into and desecrated by thieves and vagabonds that it became at last -necessary to remove it altogether. Accordingly, a licence was obtained -in 1440 from the Bishop of London, Robert Braybrooke, to demolish -the building and to erect a new church in the village itself, to be -dedicated to St. Mary. Hence the disuse of "Tyburn" and the rise of -"St. Mary-le-bourne." - -The old Court House and vestry offices of Marylebone, in Marylebone -Lane, built in 1829, occupy the site of the ancient vestry and that of -the old pound for strayed cattle; and skeletons, found there in plenty -at the building of it, were ascribed to the criminals anciently hanged -and gibbeted on the spot, rather than thought to be the bones of the -respectable inhabitants. - -But, however dangerous the neighbourhood for three hundred and -sixty-four days of the year, it was on one summer's day, annually, the -scene of a gay civic festival. Ever since 1239 there had been conduits -established here for the supply of water to London—that one square mile -of London known as the City—and to this spot on that annual occasion -repaired my Lord Mayor and aldermen, to feast in a building called the -"Banqueting House," that then stood in the pleasant country meadows. -It may be found, distinctly marked, on old maps, on the site of -Stratford Place, which itself is of considerable age, having been begun -in 1744. - -A record is still preserved of that civic junketing in 1562, -when, after lunch, the Lord Mayor and the other guests hunted the -hare through the woods of St. Marylebone. Then they dined, and, -the huntsman having unearthed a fox, the hunt tailed away to St. -Giles-in-the-Fields, where at last he was killed, "with great hollowing -and blowing of horns at his death." - -There should never have been the slightest doubt as to the real meaning -of the word "Tyburn." It clearly means "the two streams." Somewhat -similar derivations of place-names are found in the numerous "Twyfords" -throughout the country, and in the name of Tiverton: the meanings -being, of course, respectively, "Two Fords," and "Two Ford Town." But -we find such derivations as "t'Ay Bourne," and the quaint passage -written in 1617, "Teyborne, so-called of bornes and springs and of -tying men up there." Fuller, at any rate, if not prepared to suggest an -origin, was not, on the other hand, content to accept the popular view. -He adopted a mildly critical attitude when he wrote his _Worthies_, and -said: "Some will have it from Tie and Burne, because the poor Lollards -for whom this instrument (of cruelty to them, though of justice to -malefactors) was first set up, had their necks tied to the beame, and -their lower parts burnt in the fire. Others will have it that it is -called from Twa and Burne; that is, two rivulets, which it seems meet -near to the place." - -But the earliest mention of the stream, or streams, in A.D. 951, when -it was called "Teoburne," seems to settle the point, beyond reasonable -doubt. - -The valley of this vanished stream can still most clearly be perceived, -in the very marked dip in the road at this point, and its course onward -towards the Thames may be traced by Brook Street and Half Moon Street, -to Piccadilly (where a similar dip in the road will be found) and so -into the Green Park. - -The westward march of London in course of time moved on the Tyburn -"Elms," to a site midway between the two branches of the Tye Burn, and -fixed the scene of execution for some two centuries at what was later -known as "Tyburn Gate," until at last "Tyburn," as a Golgotha, ceased -to be, in 1783. - -There was probably an excellent reason for this selection. The spot -was certainly not near either of the bournes, but it was, as already -pointed out, at a junction of roads, and it was then a place where -the greatest publicity could be given to the ways of justice—or what -passed for such—with the breakers of laws. It was not, according to -ancient accounts, a nice place, even before the gallows was erected -there; being nothing but a barren heath, standing rather high above the -surrounding country, and with no houses near. - -The road to this last Golgotha of London, before executions took place -outside Newgate prison, is known by many names to-day: Holborn, High -Holborn, New Oxford Street, and Oxford Street, along whose course it -would now be difficult to point out many historical survivals. The -church of St. Sepulchre still stands, as of yore, immediately without -the site of the ancient City wall, and seems to many well versed in -the gloomy memories of the spot, to bear an ominous name, until it is, -with a little thought, recognised to be really dedicated in memory of -the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. An ironic fate, indeed, it was that -for so many centuries associated its name with the last moments of the -capitally convicted. - -Its tower is prominent even now, but it was even more striking—though -more closely hemmed in with houses—before the Holborn Viaduct, in 1867, -superseded the road that in the old days plunged down into the deep -valley of the Fleet River, that Old Bourne, or Hole Bourne, so greatly -in dispute among antiquaries, and crossed here by Holborn Bridge, until -the improvements of the viaduct-building age overbuilt the valley, and -swept away the bridge and the surrounding streets into the limbo of -forgotten things. - -"All, all are gone, the old familiar faces," sighed the poet; and the -thing remains just as true and as sad when we substitute "places" to -suit our own present needs. Newgate prison is gone and Skinner Street -is abolished, that once stood immediately adjoining St. Sepulchre -church, and the only vestige remaining of it is a very plain tablet -dated 1802, that may be found by the diligent and the quick-sighted -in the dungeon-like crypt of the Guildhall Museum. The dirty alleys -are gone too, and that is no loss—and gone also is what was known to -Cockneys as "'Obun 'ill." Holborn Hill, which, it need perhaps hardly -be explained, was the true name of this eminence, was not an Alp, -nor even a Plinlimmon, but it remained to the very last a terror to -London drivers, especially of heavy vehicles. It was a great thing when -Holborn Viaduct was built, to have abolished those exceeding-steep -gradients which faced all eastward—and westward—going traffic, and were -terribly exacting to horses, especially in damp, greasy weather. - -[Illustration: - - SKINNER - STREET, - 1802.] - -"'It 'im on the raw, mister!" suggested a countryman in the old days -to the omnibus driver, as the vehicle toiled up the steep, towards the -City. - -Alas! poor horse. - -"Not yet," returned the driver, who knew his business; "we saves that -for 'Obun 'ill!" That was the supreme effort! - -The descent of Holborn Hill was the first thing that lay before those -old-time melancholy processions to the Elms in very ancient days, and -to Tyburn, about half a mile further westward, in later ages; and -something of what it was in the way of a descent we may still judge -by looking down over the parapet of the Viaduct, on to Farringdon -Street, far below. Before the procession fairly started on its way -down this declivity, it halted by the porch of St. Sepulchre, and the -criminal, so soon to die, received a large nosegay from the clergyman, -for all the world as though he were a _débutante_ upon the concert -platform, instead of his being about to make a painful and humiliating -entry into the next world. The nosegay was generally tied in the best -fashion, with white silken ribbons; and indeed, the thing was done in -style by all present, not excepting the central figure, the condemned -man, who was almost always, when he could afford it, dressed gaily -and fashionably, as though he were going to a wedding. He went to his -death like a gentleman, no matter how he had lived his life. The only -derogatory circumstance about it was that, while the sheriff rode in -his carriage, the real hero of the day was obliged to go the journey in -a cart. For the rest, if he were a good-plucked one, the highwayman, -forger, murderer, or pickpocket—whatever was his crime—went his way in -receipt of a continual ovation. He held the centre of the stage all the -way. No one wanted to deprive him of this pre-eminence; be sure of that. - -Of these scenes Swift wrote in 1727: - - As clever Tom Clinch, while the rabble was bawling, - Rode stately through Holborn to die at his calling, - He stopt at the "Bowl" for a bottle of sack, - And promised to pay for it when he came back. - His waistcoat and stockings and breeches were white, - His cap had a new cherry ribbon to tie't. - The maids to the doors and the balconies ran, - And said, "Lack-a-day, he's a proper young man!" - And as at the windows the ladies he spied, - Like a beau in a box, he bowed low on each side, - And when his last speech the loud hawkers did cry, - He swore from the cart, "It was all a damn'd lie!" - The hangman for pardon fell down on his knee: - Tom gave him a kick in the guts for his fee: - Then said, "I must speak to the people a little; - But I'll see you all damn'd before I will whittle! - My honest friend Wild (may he long hold his place), - He lengthen'd my life with a whole year of grace. - Take courage, dear comrades, and be not afraid, - Nor slip this occasion to follow your trade; - My conscience is clear, and my spirits are calm, - And thus I go off, without prayer-book or psalm; - Then follow the practice of clever Tom Clinch, - Who hung like a hero, and never would flinch." - -The original of this savage satire was, no doubt, Tom Cox, the -younger son of a gentleman of Blandford, who, resenting his meagre -fortune under that old fetish of the English landowner, the law of -primogeniture, came to London for the purpose of adding to it in what -was then the conventional manner. His career was ended, too, by -the authorities with an equally slavish regard to precedent, for when -convicted at the Old Bailey of highway robbery, he was sentenced to -be hanged; and if, as a matter of fact, his actual ending at Tyburn -on June 3rd, 1691, was marked by an incident of striking originality, -it was his own pluck and resource that provided the piquant sensation -created, and nothing officially contributed. - -[Illustration: CLEVER TOM CLINCH GOING TO EXECUTION.] - -He had been heedless in the extreme while in prison of the -ministrations of the Ordinary, and, being well provided with money, -lived his last days riotously. Even when beneath the gallows at Tyburn -he remained unmoved, and when the Ordinary asked if he would not join -with his fellow-sufferers in prayer, he swore and kicked both him and -the hangman out of the cart. He was but twenty-six years of age when he -died. - -But good humour generally prevailed on the way: "The heroes of the day -were often on excellent terms with the mob, and jokes were exchanged -between the men who were going to be hanged, and the men who deserved -to be." - -Not only the "mob" enjoyed these occasions: people who, by position and -education ought to have known better, made a point of either witnessing -the start, or, better still, of being present at the actual execution. -Those were not constituent items of the "mob" who, for example, paid -their half-crowns for seats in the grand stand that was a permanent -structure at Tyburn, to witness the final scene; but they had all the -ferocity of mobs, and showed it one day in 1758, when, having paid -their money to see Dr. Henesey hanged, he was not hanged, but reprieved -instead. Enraged at this shameful breach of faith—and not at all glad -that one fellow-mortal had at the eleventh hour escaped a shameful -end—they wrecked the seats and departed in a by no means appeased -ill-humour. - -Some enthusiastic sightseers walked all the way: they could not have -too much of a good thing. Happy were those who could not only do that, -but could by favour secure a place next the criminal himself! T. J. -Smith, who wrote the well-known volume called _A Book for a Rainy -Day_, tells how, as a little boy, he was nearly given such a treat. He -did, at any rate, witness the start, under the care of Nollekens, and -saw the clergyman give the condemned malefactor the nosegay: but the -greater treat was, by a mere accident, not to be his. - -"Tom, my little man," whispered Nollekens, "if my father-in-law, Mr. -Justice Welch, had been high constable, we could have walked beside the -cart all the way to Tyburn." - -Where Holborn Viaduct ends westward in the Circus, graced in these -latter days of ours with that polite equestrian statue of the Prince -Consort, lifting his cocked hat so high to omnibus passengers, the -Tyburn procession arrived at the summit of Holborn Hill; passing to -it beneath the tall tower of St. Andrew's church. The respectable -inhabitants of Thavies' Inn—that demure row of red-brick houses on -the left hand, built late in the seventeenth century, or early in the -eighteenth—were, we may be sure, as eager to view the passing show as -were the "lower orders." The windows of the "Old Bell" inn, last but -one of the ancient galleried inns of London, demolished so recently -as 1897, were, no doubt, in great demand; and indeed, at all the many -hostelries on the line of march the sightseers gathered, and at one -and the same time satisfied their curiosity and quenched the thirst it -provoked. But gone are all the relics of the coaching days, and most -others. Holborn is not what it was. Nothing is. - -The weirdest jokes were current of the doomed criminals' behaviour on -this melancholy way. Thus Thomas Witherington, executed in 1635, when -going up Holborn Hill, requested that the cart might be stopped, for -he desired to speak to the sheriff's deputy, who was conducting the -affair. "Sir," he is reported to have said, when the deputy asked what -it was he wanted, "I owe a small matter at the 'Three Cups' inn, a -little further on, and I am afraid I shall be arrested for debt as I go -by the door. So I shall be much obliged to you if you will be pleased -to carry me down Shoe Lane and bring me up Drury Lane again, so that we -don't pass it, and perhaps lose my appointment at Tyburn." - -The deputy, entering into the humour of it, said he could not alter the -route, but, if they were stopped, he would certainly go bail for him; -and so Witherington, "not thinking he had such a good Friend to stand -by him in time of need, rid very contentedly to Tyburn." - -As these cavalcades progressed, they came gradually into the country. -They passed the ultimate boundaries of the City at Holborn Bars, where -the ancient timbered and gabled buildings of Staple Inn still look -across the road to what is now Gray's Inn Road, but was then merely a -lane. Near by is Furnival Street, formerly Castle Street, as a tablet -dated 1785 proclaims. - -[Illustration: - - Castle Street - 1785] - -"Holborn Bars" is a name that but mildly stimulates the curiosity of -modern Londoners, who, seeing no bars here, wonder idly about the -name, resolve to inquire about it, and then in the busy life they -lead, forget their passing interest. There were toll-bars here in the -highwaymen's days, and those who care to seek for themselves may still -determine the exact boundary of the City of London, for a granite -obelisk on either side of the road, bearing the City arms, still -marks the spot. London had reached thus far early in the seventeenth -century, but it went little further westward for another hundred years. - -The names of Great Turnstile, Little Turnstile, and New Turnstile, -now narrow side streets, giving upon Lincoln's Inn Fields, are -reminiscences of the time when the land westward of Lincoln's -Inn really was meadow-land, instead of a London square garden -surrounded by houses. These various "Turnstile" streets still keep -the ancient narrowness of the country lanes they once were, when the -"kissing-gates," or turnstiles, led into green fields spangled with -butter-cups and daisies; but such things are things of long ago: the -old wall-tablet at the Holborn end of New Turnstile, dated 1688, -showing when the rustic pathways were first exchanged for streets, and -the wayside hedges for bricks and mortar. Until quite recent years -Tichborne Court remained near by, with its fine tablet bearing the -Tichborne arms and the date 1685. - -[Illustration: - - NEW - TURN - STYLE - 1688] - -Kingsway, London's new street, immediately westward, has been driven -along the line of Little Queen Street since 1903; its name in some -fashion intended to perpetuate the route taken by Charles the Second -between Whitehall and Newmarket. When His Majesty shed the light of -his countenance upon the races, or when he merely wished to visit his -palace at Theobalds, near Cheshunt, his way would lie along what is -now Kingsway, across Holborn, along the now vanished Kingsgate Street -(demolished in 1903, in the Holborn to Strand street-improvements), -and into the Theobald's Road. Kingsgate Street derived the second -part of its name from it having been a private road for the King's -own use: barred and locked against the passage of meaner folk, except -in the case of a privileged few, fortunate enough to obtain passes. -Less influential people, passing on foot, on horseback, or by carriage -towards Cheshunt and Newmarket, in the wake of the Court, had to -struggle as best they might through a network of peculiarly evil -and muddy lanes, infested with highwaymen, who, nothing daunted by -witnessing the dismal processions of their brethren going westward, -robbed with celerity and an exquisite assurance those who, repairing to -the races, would in all likelihood have lost their guineas on Newmarket -Heath. - -[Illustration: - - TICHBORN COURT - ANNO DNI. 1685] - -Thus we read in one of the "News Letters" of Charles the Second's -time, under date of 1666: "Last Monday week in Holborn Fields, while -several gentlemen were travelling to Newmarkett, to the Races there, -a Highway Man very politely begg'd their Purses, for he said he was -advis'd that he should win a great Sum if he adventur'd some guineas -with the Competers at New-Market on a certain horse call'd 'Boopeepe,' -which my Lord Excetter was to run a match. He was so pressing that they -resign'd their Money to his keeping (not without sight of his pistols); -he telling them that, if they would give him their names and the names -of the places where they might be found, he would return to them that -had Lent, at usury. It is thought that his Venture was not favourable, -for the Gentlemen have not receiv'd neither Principle nor Interest. It -is thought that it was Monsieur Claud Du Vall, or one of his knot, that -Ventur'd the Gentlemen's money for them." - -Not only have all those lanes disappeared in the long ago, but even -such comparatively late landmarks as Kingsgate Street are no more: -Kingsgate Street, the home of Sairey—"which her name is well beknownst -is S. Gamp." - -A little distance further westward, the Londoner not deeply versed in -the ancient lore of the metropolis is greatly surprised at finding High -Holborn curving boldly to the left and departing in the most marked -manner from that straight line to the west traced nowadays by New -Oxford Street. He does not know, or does not stop to consider, that -New Oxford Street really is new, as newness in streets goes. It is, -in fact, not older than 1847. Before it was made, there was no good -through-route between the City and Tyburn, and the line of road went by -a circuitous course, still easily traced—by High Holborn, Broad Street, -and High Street, Bloomsbury. Passing under the very shadow of the -Church of St. Giles—anciently "St. Giles-in-the-Fields"—the road again -fell into the straight line opposite Tottenham Court Road. - -The reason for this curious departure from the direct course is thought -to have been the existence in ancient times of a lake, or marsh—a -certain "Rugmere" mentioned in old records—covering the site of what is -now New Oxford Street. However that may have been, this marsh must in -course of centuries have dried up, for the site was built upon in later -ages. - -It was not an idyllic village that by degrees came into existence -here. It formed an annexe to St. Giles's, a village itself associated -from remote times with undesirables. A leper hospital was one of the -early features of the place, and poverty and crime in later years came -to roost by natural selection there; until, in fact, the proverbial -conjunction of St. James's and St. Giles's, indicating the opposite -extremes of aristocratic elegance and unredeemed vulgar squalor, -was coined out of its flagrant raggedness and dirt. The particular -spot through which New Oxford Street runs, was the deepest deep -of that foul slum. Drink and depravity met there and flourished. -It was generally known, this very microcosm of criminal life, as -"The Rookery," but satirists called it, in obvious contrast with -its real character, the "Holy Land." None dared venture into that -select purlieu, except under police protection; and London breathed -more freely when, in 1844, it was at last decided to remove this -long-threatened plague-spot. Three years later, the new thoroughfare -was opened; the improvement had cost no less a sum than £290,227 4s. -10d., of which £113,963 went to the Duke of Bedford, as compensation, -although the work had the effect of increasing the value of his -adjoining property. The transaction is an eloquent instance of the -marvellous and continued success of the Russell family in feeding fat -upon the body politic, like lice upon the corporeal body. It does not -appear that, although His Grace was advantaged thus enormously, both by -betterment and by compensation, the unfortunate owners and occupiers of -houses and business premises in those highways suddenly converted into -byways received any of the much-needed compensation for the "worsement" -they suffered. For when New Oxford Street was made, the fortunes of -High Street, Bloomsbury, of Broad Street, and of the circuitous part of -High Holborn were at once shattered, and they at one stroke became the -byways they have ever since remained. - -Swift, in his ballad of "Clever Tom Clinch," mentions the "Bowl" -inn, at which the convict called "for a bottle of sack." This was -a house that stood at the corner of what is now Endell Street and -Broad Street. For "sack," which Swift probably used for the sake of -the rhyme with "come back," read ale, and the verse is true to facts; -for the processions halted at the "Bowl" ale house, and the criminals -were offered a drink of ale; and it does not seem ever to be recorded -of them that they refused it. Perhaps they took with them memories of -the old saying, that "the saddler of Bawtry was hanged for leaving -his ale": an unfortunate occurrence directly attributable to his -ill-humour. No one knows what the saddler had done, but he was to die -for it, and being led out to York's execution place, on Knavesmire, -turned from the drink offered him on the way. He had been effectually -hanged only a minute or two, when an unexpected reprieve came by a -hurried messenger; too late. - -All the good-plucked ones on their way to Tyburn, were not only -expected to take their ale, but to make that joke about "coming back" -to pay for it. It was as essential and as conventional as the clown's, -"Here we are again!" Some surly ruffian might be moved, once in a way, -to drain the bowl, fling it empty at the landlord, and bid him "wait -for payment till he met him in H—ll"; but that was ungentlemanly, and -the assignation not certain of fulfilment. Sometimes it would happen -that one of these travellers going on to dance upon nothing at Tyburn -would make variations upon the old theme; but nothing seems to have -been quite so neat as the last remark of an atrocious villain, Tom -Austin, who, when he stood with the rope round his neck, replied to the -Ordinary's query if he had anything to say before he died: "Nothing: -only there's a woman yonder with some curds and whey, and I wish I -could have a pennyworth of them before I am hanged, because I don't -know when I shall see any again." - -[Illustration: AT THE "BOWL."] - -Leaving the "Bowl" and threading the narrow passage of High Street, -Bloomsbury, the processions, passing St. Giles's Pound, came into -the "Tyburn Road," called sometimes "the Oxford Road," and now, and -since about 1718, styled Oxford Street. Lysons, in his _Environs of -London_, says the row of the first few houses on the north side of -Tyburn Road westward of the Tottenham Court Road, was completed in -1729, and then it was first called Oxford Street; but he is clearly -in error, for until about 1888 there remained built into the wall of -No. 1, Oxford Street, on the south side, at the first-floor level, an -oval tablet inscribed, "This is Oxford Streete, 1725." When the houses -were rebuilt, this simple relic disappeared. But a still earlier tablet -remains to disprove Lysons. This is one built into the wall of a house -at the corner of Rathbone Place, which announces "Rathbones Place in -Oxford Street 1718." The omission of the possessive case apostrophe -has a somewhat gruesome effect, when we consider the old story of -Oxford Street; but the side street was then the property of a certain -Captain Rathbone. Oxford Street then had a very unenviable reputation. -Pennant's description of it in his own youthful days forms interesting -reading. - -[Illustration: - - THIS IS - OXFORD STREETE - 1725] - -"I remember Oxford Street," he says, "a deep hollow road, and full -of sloughs; with here and there a ragged house, the lurking-place of -cut-throats: insomuch that I was never taken that way by night in my -hackney-coach, to a worthy uncle's, who gave me lodgings in his house -in George Street, but I went in dread the whole way." - -[Illustration: - - RATHBONES - PLACE IN - OXFORD - STREET - 1718] - -Rathbone Place did not long remain the most westerly street. By 1725 a -good deal of the parish of St. George, Hanover Square, on the opposite -side of the road, was in existence, and was at once fashionable; and -Thomas Street, with its tablet dated 1725, shows that, originally as -"Bird Street," it had carried the bricks and mortar tide still further. - -It can easily be understood that the stigma of the Tyburn route was -at this period of development beginning to be resented by these new -settlers, who glanced with loathing at the crowds who came to give the -condemned a good send-off. - -[Illustration: - - BIRD - STREET - 1725] - -It was said that 200,000 persons visited Tyburn to witness the -execution of Ferdinand, Marquis Paleotti, in 1718, for the murder of -his servant, named, by a curious coincidence, Jack Sheppard, and thus -by no means to be confounded with the famous Jack Sheppard, pickpocket -and burglar, who was executed here in 1724. - -Henri Misson, one of the most entertaining and instructive of foreign -travellers in England, who travelled among us in 1718, and wrote -his experiences and impressions, says: "Hanging is the most common -Punishment in England. Usually this Execution is done in a great Road -about a quarter of a League from the Suburbs of London. The Sessions -for trying Criminals being held but Eight Times a Year, there are -sometimes twenty Malefactors to be hang'd at a time. - -"They put five or six in a Cart (some gentlemen obtain leave to perform -this journey in a coach) and carry them riding backwards, with the -Rope about their Necks, to the fatal Tree. The Executioner stops the -Cart under one of the Cross Beams of the Gibbet, and fastens to that -ill-favoured Beam one End of the Rope, while the other is round the -Wretches Neck. This done, he gives the Horse a Lash with his Whip, away -goes the Cart, and there swings my Gentleman Kicking in the Air. - -"The Hangman does not give himself the Trouble to put them out of their -Pain; but some of their Friends or Relations do it for them. They pull -the dying Person by the Legs, and beat his Breast, to dispatch him as -soon as possible. The English are People that laugh at the Delicacy of -other Nations, who make it such a mighty Matter to be hanged. Their -extraordinary Courage looks upon it as a Trifle, and they also make a -Jest of the pretended Dishonour that, in the opinion of others, fall -upon their Kindred. - -"He that is to be hanged, or otherwise executed, first takes Care to -get himself shaved and handsomely dressed; either in Mourning, or in -the Dress of a Bridegroom. This done, he sets his Friends at Work to -get him Leave to be buried, and to carry his Coffin with him, which -is easily obtained. When his Suit of Clothes, his Night Gown, his -Gloves, Hat, Periwig, Nosegay, Coffin, Flannel Dress for his Corps, -and all those things are bought and prepared, the main Point is taken -Care of. His Mind is at Peace, and then he thinks of his Conscience. -Generally he studies a Speech, which he pronounces under the Gallows, -and gives in Writing to the Sheriff or the Minister that attends him -in his last Moments; desiring that it may be printed. Sometimes the -Girls dress in White, with great Silk Scarves, and carry Baskets full -of Flowers and Oranges, scattering these Flowers all the Way they go. -But, to represent Things as they really are, I must needs own that if a -pretty many of these People dress thus gaily, and go to it with such an -Air of Indifference, there are many others that go slovenly enough, and -with very dismal Phizzes." - -[Illustration: AN EXECUTION AT TYBURN.] - -Jonathan Wild, hanged May 24th, 1725, was a whimsical fellow at the -last of his career, for he picked the pocket of the Ordinary on the -way. It is perhaps most exquisitely characteristic of the race of -Newgate Ordinaries that the article stolen was a corkscrew. "Jonathan -Wild the Great," as Fielding calls him, "died with the eloquent trophy -in his hand." - -Half a century later, those Newgate chaplains enjoyed an equally -bad—if, indeed, not a worse—reputation, and a slighting remark is made -in Storer's letter to George Selwyn, in describing the execution of Dr. -Dodd for forgery, on June 27th, 1777. He rode to Tyburn in exceptional -state, in a carriage, and as a heavy rain-shower was falling at the -moment of his entering the cart, an umbrella was held over him, so -that he might not be wetted. It was unfeelingly remarked at the time -that the precaution was entirely unnecessary, for he was going to a -place where he would soon be dried. John Wesley, who also witnessed the -execution, was of a different, and a more charitable, opinion. "I make -no doubt," he said, "but at that moment the angels were ready to carry -him into Abraham's bosom." - -"He was a considerable time in praying," says Storer, "which some -people about seemed rather tired with; they rather wished for a more -interesting part of the tragedy. There were two clergymen attending -upon him, one of whom seemed very much affected. The other, I suppose, -was the Ordinary of Newgate, as he was perfectly indifferent and -unfeeling in every thing he said and did." - -In Hogarth's print of the final scene in the life of the _Idle -Apprentice_, arrived at Tyburn to be hanged, we have a very painstaking -representation by that matter-of-fact artist of one of these fearfully -frequent executions. Hogarth was the most uncompromising realist; he -set down what he saw, and extenuated nothing. Thus, in this view, we -may be quite sure we see a typical execution in the middle of the -eighteenth century; the criminal seated in the cart, with his coffin -dolorously ready to receive his body, while with one eye upon the -prayer-book, and the other on the ribald crowd, he strives to pay -attention to the last exhortations of the Ordinary, who is seen with -uplifted hand and finger pointing to the sky, apparently comforting him -with the assurance that he shall find that mercy in the other world, -which man has denied him in this. - -[Illustration: EXECUTION OF THE IDLE APPRENTICE AT TYBURN. - - _After Hogarth._] - -The sheriff's mounted guard, with their halberds, look unconcernedly -on, for this is an almost everyday business with them. One is seen -joking with a comrade. Drunken women are drinking gin, pickpockets are -at work, and a slatternly woman is crying the "Last Dying Speech and -Confession of Thomas Idle." - -On the right hand is the permanent stand for those spectators who -were above mixing with the mob, and were prepared to pay well for the -comfortable circumstances in which they could witness a fellow-creature -publicly put to a shameful death. Close by, you perceive the -"three-legged mare" itself, at that time a fixed, and a very roomy -and most substantial structure, designed to accommodate as many as a -dozen or so criminals at one time; so plentiful then were the hangings. -The hangman himself is seen to be idly reclining on top, smoking a -contemplative pipe, until it shall please the clergyman to finish, and -hand over the doomed man to him. And there is the Sheriff's carriage, -and on the left hand the brick wall, which then enclosed Hyde Park. In -the far distance are seen the pleasant heights of Notting Hill, then in -the open country, and no doubt a spot where the innocent delights of -gathering hazel-nuts could still be enjoyed, as in the times when it -was first called the "nutting" hill. - -[Illustration: QUEEN HENRIETTA MARIA PRAYING AT TYBURN.] - -So changed are the modern circumstances of the spot where Tyburn Gate -in later times, and Tyburn gallows in earlier years, stood, that vexed -controversies are continually arising as to the exact spot on which the -gallows was erected. It is not, really, a difficult point to settle. -The structure shown in Hogarth's engraving, and displayed in a still -earlier German print, in which Queen Henrietta Maria, the consort of -Charles the First, is seen to be making pilgrimage and praying for the -souls of her Roman Catholic servants hanged here, was erected exactly -in the middle of the road, where, as you go westward, the straight line -of Oxford Street and the Bayswater Road is met by the Edgware Road. -Old maps indisputably prove it, and the point is more particularly -settled by a large and very detailed plan of the parish of St. George, -Hanover Square, made in 1725, and until recently in the vestry. It is -now in the Buckingham Palace Road branch of the Westminster Public -Libraries, where an old engraving of it also hangs on the staircase. -This plan shows the parish boundary running up Park Lane to Oxford -Street, and there meeting the boundaries of Marylebone and Paddington, -at the junction of Oxford Street, the Bayswater Road, and the Edgware -Road. The three boundaries all meet in the middle of this confluence of -thoroughfares, and there the gallows is shown, one of its three legs in -each parish. - -In its later years, Tyburn as a hanging place became more varied, and -the permanent gallows gave way to a temporary one, erected at different -points somewhat further west. Two circumstances suggested this: -firstly, the building of houses overlooking the scene, and the natural -wish of the tenants that such dreadful exhibitions should not be -displayed absolutely beneath their windows; and secondly, the even more -practical necessity of ridding the public highway of the obstruction -caused by the permanent scaffold. The key to this question of removal -is found in the _Gazetteer_, May 4th, 1771, which remarked that the -Dowager Lady Waldegrave was having a "grand house built near Tyburn," -and added that, "Through the particular interest of her ladyship, the -place of execution will be removed to another spot." - -The highwaymen who suffered so largely here had in their lives, been -a danger and a hindrance upon the highway, and they were now found, -oddly enough, in the circumstances of their taking off, to be an equal -nuisance. The road at this point had begun to be enclosed on all sides, -and traffic, no longer able to avoid that ominous timber framework, -would have actually been blocked by it. So, as with the passing of the -years it had been found that executions tended somewhat to decrease, -the permanent gallows was at last disestablished, and a new and movable -one was constructed. This was used practically all over the area -bounded by Tyburn Gate, at the junction of roads already described; -by Bryanston Street, Seymour Street, Connaught Square, Stanhope -Place, and so round by the Bayswater Road to Tyburn Gate again. The -site of No. 6, Connaught Place, has been particularly mentioned, and, -more particularly still, that of No. 49, Connaught Square, which the -original lease from the freeholder, the Bishop of London, declares to -have been the place where the gallows stood. - -It was in 1783 that Dr. Johnson, that revered philosopher, declaimed -against the changes then being witnessed. Perhaps the novelty that most -angered him was the proposed abolition of the degrading processions -of condemned malefactors from Newgate to Tyburn. "The age is running -mad after innovation," he exclaimed to Sir William Scott, "and all the -business of the world is to be done in a new way; men are to be hanged -in a new way; Tyburn itself is not safe from the fury of innovation." - -It was timorously remarked that this change would, at any rate, be -an improvement upon the old order of things; but Johnson, like most -elderly men, thoroughly believed in what has been styled, "the gospel -of things as they are," and he vehemently retorted, "No, sir, it is -_not_ an improvement; they object that the old method drew together a -number of spectators. Sir, executions are intended to draw spectators. -If they do not draw spectators, they don't answer their purpose. -The old method was most satisfactory to all parties: the public was -gratified by a procession; the criminal was supported by it. Why is all -this to be swept away?" - -But the age was more progressive than Dr. Johnson, and 1783 did -actually witness the last execution at Tyburn. Unhappily, public -executions did not come to an end at the same time; such dismal -exhibitions continuing in London to draw huge and riotous crowds at -the Old Bailey until they were finally abolished in 1868. The old -excuse for public executions—that they were valuable as deterrents from -crime—had long been proved singularly ill-founded; and it was notorious -that these gruesome occasions, in some morbid fashion, attracted not -only a ruffianly and callous assemblage, but brought all the graduates -in crime to the spot to witness a scene in which themselves would, -in all probability, some day figure as chief actors. The last dying -speeches of the criminals were heard by few in the crowd, and were -aptly described as "exhortations to shun a vicious life, addressed to -thieves actually engaged in picking pockets." The hardened wretches -who looked on at these last scenes, and who had, many of them, already -qualified for a place in the cart, had a kind of perverted professional -pride. They applauded when a malefactor, with a curse and a jest, "died -game," and they howled disapproval when some poor nervous creature -broke down pitifully on the verge of eternity. - -We observe in the rough but effective old woodcut which graces, -or at any rate, occupies, if it does not grace, the end of this -chapter, a criminal, not only dying game (in spite of the curious -black-faced, cheerful, parrot-like hangman above, who seems to be -thoroughly enjoying himself), but apparently distributing handbills; -very much to the astonishment of the sheriff's bodyguard, whose faces -exhibit a singular variety of emotions. Perhaps the criminal is so -unconcerned because he knows it impossible to hang him on so short -a gallows as that shown here. The illustration is one of the curious -seventeenth-century representations of current events that formed the -pictorial news of the age. - -The last person actually to be executed at Tyburn was John Austin, -hanged there November 7th, 1783. - -[Illustration: [++] MAN BEING HUNG.] - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -THE WAYSIDE GIBBETS - - _The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto - the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts - of the earth._—PSALM lxxix. 2. - - -The highwaymen were not specifically servants of the Lord, and -certainly never numbered a saint in their ranks; but the point to be -made here is that, after all, they were human beings, who lived in -a supposedly civilised country, and were entitled to be turned off -in a gentlemanly way; and, their crimes being thus expiated, to be -buried decently and allowed to rest. For a murderer, it may readily be -conceded, nothing could be too severe in the way of punishment. Let the -bodies of those who profane God's temple be themselves profaned with -every offensive circumstance. But for mere robbery upon the highway the -methods of the law were too drastic. - -When it was considered more than usually desirable to convey a warning -to evil-doers in general, and highwaymen in particular, that Justice -was still vigilant and ready to punish crime, the bodies of executed -malefactors were occasionally set up along the roads on tall gallows -and hanged, or "gibbeted," there in chains or in an especially -constructed iron framework, so that they might remain for a length of -time, to preach an eloquent sermon to some classes of the passers-by, -and to disgust others. - -Among the features of the country to which the old map-makers -especially devoted their attention, the gibbets and the beacons along -the roads are most prominent. Ogilby, in his _Britannia_ of 1675, shows -a startlingly large "gallows," like a football goal, a mile and a half -on the London side of Croydon, and on the Tarporley-Chester Road shows -a "Gibbit," two miles and a half from Chester. - -[Illustration: THE ROAD NEAR CHESTER, 1675.] - -There was never any lack of subjects for gibbeting purposes, but -it was generally desired to preserve the criminal's body as long as -possible, to avoid the trouble and expense of replacing him with a -fresh subject; and to that end the practice was either to place the -body in a copperful of boiling pitch, or to pour pitch over it. So -treated, it would last an almost incredibly long time: always supposing -the relatives of that public exhibit did not come by stealth and make -away with it. - -There are still a few gibbets to be found in England: but rarely, or -never, the original posts. A sentiment which we are not quite prepared -to declare a perverted one, but which is certainly a sufficiently -gruesome manifestation of antiquarian enthusiasm, has led to the old -gibbet-posts being renewed from time to time in several places; and -there they stand, on hill-tops or by roadsides, reminders of those -fearful old times when such things as these could be. - -In these pages we are concerned only with those that bear upon the -subject of the highwaymen. Among these Caxton Gibbet is prominent, -standing as it does on the North Road, between Royston and Alconbury -Hill. The particular spot where the gibbet stands is an exceedingly -lonely, and, to some minds dismal, stretch of road that winds in -the flat, featureless lands, with never a house in sight but the -neighbouring wayside alehouse, the "Gibbet" Inn. Only one mile distant -is the village of Caxton, but to all appearances the spot might be -many miles remote from even a hamlet. - -Caxton, according to Cobbett, resembles a Picardy village; "certainly -nothing English," he savagely continued, "except some of the rascally -rotten boroughs in Cornwall and Devonshire, on which a just Providence -seems to have entailed its curse. The land just about here does seem to -be really bad. The face of the country is naked. The few scrubbed trees -that now and then meet the eye, and even the quick-sets, are covered -with a yellow moss. All is bleak and comfortless; and just on the most -dreary part of this most dreary scene, stands almost opportunely, -'Caxton Gibbet,' tendering its friendly one arm to the passers-by. -It has recently been fresh painted, and written on in conspicuous -characters." - -[Illustration: CAXTON GIBBET.] - -And so it remains to-day. - -Among the criminals gibbeted on the original Caxton Gibbet was George -Atkins, who in 1671 had murdered Richard Foster and his wife and child -in the adjoining parish of Bourne. He remained at large for seven -years, and was then captured and hanged; his body being afterwards -exhibited here. But the most pitiful story connected with it is that -of the younger of the two sons of Mrs. Gatward, a widow, who for many -years kept the "Red Lion" Inn at Royston. She was assisted by her two -sons in the coaching and posting business attached to the inn; but the -younger took a sudden fancy to become a highwayman; probably from a -mere love of excitement, or dared to do it by companions of his own -age. Whatever the compelling cause, he went out and waylaid the postboy -carrying the mails between Royston and Huntingdon, and robbed the bags. -He was arrested, condemned to death, and hanged, and his body was -gibbeted here. - -The story of this amateur highwayman is to be met with in the -manuscript history of Cambridgeshire, written by Cole, a diligent -eighteenth-century antiquary: "About 1753-54, the son of Mrs. Gatward, -who kept the 'Red Lion' at Royston, being convicted of robbing the -mail, was hanged in chains on the Great Road. I saw him hanging in a -scarlet coat, and after he had hung about two or three months it is -supposed that the screw was filed which supported him and that he fell -in the first high wind after. Mr. Lord, of Trinity, passed by as he -lay on the ground, and, trying to open his breast to see what state -his body was in, not being offensive but quite dry, a button of brass -came off, which he preserves to this day.... It was a great grief to -his mother, who bore a good character, and kept the inn for many years -after." - -The story goes that the mother had the body secretly conveyed to the -inn, and gave it decent, if unconsecrated, burial in the cellar. - -It is easy to find the excuse that society had to be protected at all -costs, to condone the savagery of those who permitted gibbeting for -what we in our own age would consider a minor crime; but if we pause a -moment, and strive to realise the feelings of the surviving relatives -by imagining one of our own belongings so shamefully exposed like -carrion, for the ravens and the crows to feed upon, we shall not so -readily find excuse for that fearful procedure. - -The story of Mrs. Gatward's son very nearly fits that which suggested -to Tennyson his gloomy and pitiful poem, "Rizpah"; but the original -motive for that poem is usually said to have been a gibbet on the downs -between Brighton and Worthing. In that case also, the victim was a lad -who had robbed the mail for a mere freak. There was no mercy for him. - - They killed him, they - Kill'd him for robbing the mail, - They hanged him in chains for a show. - -There was no consideration for amateurs in that dreadful eighteenth -century in which many writers have found a specious glamour of -romance, because men and women wore powder and patches and sported -silken clothes of amazing colours and styles. Who shall admire the -embroidered waistcoat if no feeling heart beats beneath it, and what -are manners or deportment if they but mask the tiger. - -Rizpah, whose name forms the title of Tennyson's poem, was the -concubine of King Saul and mother of Armoni and Mephibosheth, who -were hanged and gibbeted, together with the five sons of Michal, on -the sacred hill of Gibeah. There they remained from the early days of -barley harvest until October. "And Rizpah ... took sackcloth and spread -it upon the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water dropped -upon them out of heaven, and suffered neither the birds of the air to -rest on them by day, nor the beasts of the field by night."—2 SAMUEL -xxii. 10. - -The poor old woman of the poem is a sadder figure than Rizpah, for -she is nearer, in time and place, to ourselves, and is represented as -gathering up the bones of her only son, as they drop from the gibbet. -Hers is a figure of terror and for pity: - - Wailing, wailing, wailing, the wind over land and sea— - And Willy's voice in the wind, "O mother, come out to me." - Why should he call me to-night, when he knows that I cannot go? - For the downs are as bright as day, and the full moon stares at - the snow. - We should be seen, my dear; they would spy us out of the town. - The loud black nights for us, and the storm rushing over the down, - When I cannot see my own hand, but am led by the creak of the chain, - And grovel and grope for my son, till I find myself drenched - with the rain. - Anything fallen again? Nay—what was there left to fall? - I have taken them home, I have number'd the bones, I have hidden - them all. - They would scratch him up—they would hang him again on the - cursed tree. - Sin? O yes—we are sinners, I know—let all that be, - And read me a Bible verse of the Lord's good-will towards men— - "Full of compassion and mercy, the Lord"—let me hear it again; - "Full of compassion and mercy—long-suffering." Yes, O yes! - For the lawyer is born but to murder—the Saviour lives but - to bless. - -Robbers of His Majesty's mails had always been hanged on conviction, -but this severity had proved no deterrent, and it was not until the -Earl of Leicester, Postmaster-General in 1753, prevailed upon the -Government to have their bodies afterwards hung in chains, that any -diminution of mail-robberies took place. Highwaymen, it is curious to -reflect, did not so much mind being hanged, but had the greatest horror -of their bodies being afterwards exposed. It is a weakness not readily -to be understood, this horror, not of death, but of the desecration of -the senseless body after death; but it was a very useful feeling to -play upon, by way of deterrent. - -That the highwaymen and the murderers were not always dissuaded from -their crimes by the prospect of this post-mortem indignity is of course -to be readily supposed. There was always the chance of their not being -discovered. Thus, although mail-robberies were probably much fewer than -they would have been, except for the gibbeting order, they still -were a feature of the highwaymen's enterprises: and the midnight roads -continued to be awful with pendant bodies, creaking in the wind in -their rusted irons. - -It is not difficult to mentally reconstruct those times and those -wayside incidents, and I can imagine the solitary highwayman proceeding -to his shy business. There comes a horseman along the road; he can be -heard half a mile away, in the hush of the night when, with the setting -of the sun, the cattle have ceased lowing and a distant church clock -alone helps to break the stillness. He is in no hurry, this belated -cavalier, for the click-clock of his horse's hoofs is measured and he -is long in passing. - -He is gone, pacing slowly up the hill to where the great road goes by -the end of the lane, and as he goes we hear him, under his breath, -cursing the rising moon for a false jade. By favour of her light we -have seen him as he goes, with a crape mask over his face and pistols -in his holsters; and recognise him as Hotposset Dick, the highwayman, -whose nickname comes from his fondness for mulled port. They say he -always has a tankard for his mare as well as for himself when starting -out to speak with the mail at Five-ways Cross. - -Five-ways Cross is not a cheerful place for Dick just now, and his -mulled port is useful for other purposes than keeping out the cold. It -is a spot which most people would find lonely, but Dick has company up -there; company of a silent kind, which is apt rather to get on the -nerves, unless a man is well primed. It is a friend of Dick's, who used -to go shares with him in the risks of robbing on the highway and in -the profits of their trade. He was caught ignominiously, when carrying -too much liquor; hanged, and gibbeted at the Cross afterwards. There -he swings by the roadside in his cage, in a contemplative attitude, -as though pondering on the mysteries of life and death. Six months' -hanging there has not improved either his manly beauty or his clothes, -and although the spot is generally shunned by the villagers, some one, -for purposes of evil sorcery, has made away with one of the dead man's -hands and most of his hair, to make a Hand of Glory. - -[Illustration: "THERE HE SWINGS BY THE ROADSIDE, IN HIS CAGE, IN A -CONTEMPLATIVE ATTITUDE, AS THOUGH PONDERING ON THE MYSTERIES OF LIFE -AND DEATH."] - -A complete set of gibbet irons is nowadays a somewhat rare and curious -object. Their pattern varied according to local taste and fancy. There -exists a set in the museum at Warrington, Lancashire, which enclosed -the body of Edward Miles, who was executed in 1788 for robbing the -mail and for murdering the postboy. He was gibbeted near the Twystes, -on the road to Manchester, and the iron frame in which he swung for -years was buried at the foot of the gibbet-post. When it was found, in -1845, it had become an antiquity bearing upon the obsolete customs of -our forefathers, and was carefully preserved. The shape of it quite -clearly indicates the outline of a man's body, and there is even a kind -of ghastly smartness about the framework that suggests a military -bearing, which must have made the awful object a terribly dramatic -sight. - -[Illustration: MILES'S IRONS.] - -In the same neighbourhood in 1796 James Price and Thomas Brown were -gibbeted together on Trafford Green, three miles from Chester, for -robbing the postboy of the mails; and a pamphlet recounting their trial -and execution goes so far as to include a map of the road, and a neat -little view of the double gibbet, with Messrs. Price and Brown dangling -from it. - -The execution of the two brothers, Robert and William Drewett, in 1799, -for robbing the Portsmouth mail near Midhurst, was a late example of -Post-Office ferocity, and is saddened by the tradition that the younger -prisoner was innocent, and that he refused to clear himself because by -so doing he would incriminate his father. The bodies were gibbeted on -North Heath Common. - -The last person to be gibbeted in England was Cook, who had committed a -peculiarly atrocious murder at Leicester[4] in 1832. Two years later, -the practice was abolished by statute. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -THE ROADS OUT OF LONDON - - -I.—THE DOVER ROAD - -It would be difficult, if not impossible, to say which road out of -London was the most infested with highwaymen, in all these centuries. -Where all were extremely dangerous for honest men, the bad eminence -of any particular one is disputable. All the great highways were -bordered by lonely wastes and commons until well on into the nineteenth -century, and it is not saying too much to declare that the era of the -highwaymen did not really end until that of railways had begun. Edmund -Burke, who died in 1797, might see fit to declare that the age of the -highwaymen was done, and that the age of cheats had succeeded, but he -was a little too sanguine, or too despondent, whichever way you feel -inclined to look at it. To take Wiltshire alone: one man was hanged at -Fisherton gaol, Salisbury, in 1806, for highway robbery, one in 1816, -two in 1817, and two in 1824; while in 1839, when the law had become -less ferocious, three others were each sentenced to fifteen years' -transportation for a most determined highway robbery at Gore Cross, on -Salisbury Plain, on the evening of October 21st, in that year. - -Gad's Hill, on the Dover Road, had from the earliest times a peculiar -prominence in these matters, and even obtained its name from the rogues -who lurked there. But, indeed, it is not going beyond the strictest -bounds of truth to say that _all_ the hills on the Dover Road were of -evil repute. There were the cut-throats and footpads who lurked in the -wayside trees and rushed out from the leafy coverts of Shooter's Hill, -with terrifying cries. They were not politeful, those footpads, and the -title of "gentlemen of the road," which was accorded those exquisite -thieves, Claude Du Vall and Captain Hind, must needs be withheld from -them. We read in the entertaining and instructive diary of Samuel Pepys -how on April 11th, 1661, with a lady, he rode along the Dover Road, -"under the man that hangs upon Shooter's Hill, and a filthy sight it is -to see how his flesh is shrunk to his bones." - -Six men were hanged here, and their bodies exposed on gibbets, in times -not so very remote, for robbery with murder upon the highway. The -remains of four of them decorated the summit of the hill, while the -other two swung gracefully from tall posts beside the Eltham Road. The -Bull Inn, which stands on the crest of Shooter's Hill, was in coaching -times the first post-house at which travellers stopped and changed -horses on their way from London to Dover. The Bull has been rebuilt of -recent years, but tradition says (and tradition is not always such a -liar as some folk would have us believe) that Dick Turpin frequented -the road, and that it was at the old Bull he held the landlady over the -fire, in order to make her confess where she had hoarded her money. The -incident borrows a certain picturesqueness from lapse of time, but, -on the whole, it is not to be regretted that the days of barbecued -landladies are past. - -The usual stories of highway encounters give the courage to the -highwaymen and abject cowardice to their victims, but the positions -were reversed in an affray that took place on this particularly bad -eminence in 1773. A Colonel Craige and his servant were attacked about -ten o'clock one Sunday night by two well-mounted highwaymen, who, -on the Colonel declaring he would not be robbed, immediately fired -and shot the servant's horse in the shoulder. On this the servant -discharged a pistol, and, as a contemporary account has it, "The -assailants rode off with great precipitation." That they rode off with -nothing else shows how effectually the Colonel and his man, by firmly -grasping the nettle, danger, plucked the flower, safety. - -Don Juan was equally bold and successful. He was stopped with "Damn -your eyes! Your money or your life!" by a party of footpads. He did -not comprehend the language: but the meaning of their actions was plain -enough: - - Juan yet quickly understood their gesture; - And, being somewhat choleric and sudden, - Drew forth a pocket pistol from his vesture, - And fired it into one assailant's pudding— - Who fell, as rolls an ox o'er in his pasture, - And roar'd out, as he writhed his native mud in, - Unto his nearest follower or henchman, - "O Jack! I'm floor'd by that 'ere bloody Frenchman!" - - On which Jack and his train set off at speed; - And Juan's suite, late scatter'd at a distance, - Came up, all marvelling at such a deed, - And offering, as usual, late assistance. - Juan, who saw the moon's late minion bleed - As if his veins would pour out his existence, - Stood, calling out for bandages and lint, - And wish'd he'd been less hasty with his flint. - - "Perhaps," thought he, "it is the country's wont - To welcome foreigners in this way; now - I recollect some innkeepers who don't - Differ, except in robbing with a bow - In lieu of a bare blade and brazen front. - But what is to be done? I can't allow - The fellow to lie groaning on the road: - So take him up; I'll help you with the load." - - But ere they could perform this pious duty, - The dying man cried, "Hold! I've got my gruel; - Oh, for a glass of max! We've miss'd our booty; - Let me die where I am!" And as the fuel - Of life shrunk in his heart, and thick and sooty - The drops fell from his death-wound, and he drew ill - His breath, he from his swelling throat untied - A kerchief, crying "Give Sal that!"—and died. - -But not all travellers went armed, nor were all robbers so timorous. -Robberies on Shooter's Hill continued without intermission, and at the -very close of 1797—the year in which Burke, the statesman, died, who -had some years earlier declared the age of the highwaymen to be past—a -rather daring one was committed. It was on the Sunday evening, December -30th, and may be found reported in the _Times_ of January 2nd, 1798. It -was about six o'clock when highwaymen stopped a postchaise on Shooter's -Hill, in which were two lawyers, named Harrison and Lockhart, and a -midshipman of H.M.S. _Venerable_. They were travelling to London from -Sheerness. The highwaymen took the lawyers' purses and watches. "The -man on Mr. Harrison's side treated him with much personal violence, by -forcing his pistol into his mouth, on opening the chaise-door." The men -did not ask the midshipman for money, but took his trunk, containing -all his clothes. No one for a moment thought of so foolish a thing as -resisting. - -But Gad's Hill was the very worst spot on the Dover Road, and had -a very bad record for robbery and murders. When Shakespeare made -Gad's Hill the scene of that famous highway robbery, when Prince -Hal, Falstaff, Poins, and all the rest of them robbed the merchants, -the franklins, and the flea-bitten carriers who were journeying from -Rochester, he only made it so because of the ill repute the locality -already possessed. The place is not romantic to-day, and it is -somewhat difficult to realise that here, where Charles Dickens's -hideous house of Gad's Hill Place stands, the valorous Falstaff, brave -amid so many confederates, bade the travellers stand, and added insult -to injury by calling them "gorbellied knaves" and "caterpillars." - -[Illustration: FALSTAFF ON GAD'S HILL. - - "_How the rogue roared!_"] - -There is, indeed, a beautiful view from the southern slope of the hill, -looking down upon Strood and Rochester; but to see Gad's Hill as it -was of old, we should have to sweep away Gad's Hill Place, and the -rows of mean cottages that now form quite a hamlet here. The hedges -and enclosures, too, did not exist until modern times, but, instead -of them, dense woods and dark hiding-places came close up to, and -overshadowed, the highway, which was always full of ruts and liquid -mud. These facts will give some idea of how terrible the hill could -be of nights, when the rogues who hid in the shadows sprang forth and -relieved travellers of their gold. The Danish Ambassador was set upon -and plundered here in 1656, and it is quite evident that the knights of -the road who despoiled him were no illiterate rogues, because they sent -him a very whimsical letter of explanation, in which they said that: -"The same necessity that enforc't ye Tartars to breake ye wall of China -compelled them to wait upon him at Gad's Hill." Once in a way, however, -travellers were more than equal for these gentry, as we may well see in -these extracts from Gravesend registers: "1586, September 29th daye, -was a thiefe yt. was slayen, buryed"; and again, "1590, Marche the -27th daie, was a theefe yt. was at Gad's Hill wounded to deathe, called -Robert Writs, buried." - -It would be an easy matter to write a long chapter on Gad's Hill -and its terrors. We will conclude with a mention of the Duke of -Würtemberg's adventure. He and his suite were travelling along the -road, when a man with a drawn sword ran after them. The Duke promptly -told the coachman to drive as fast as he could; not, as he naïvely -added, because he was afraid of one man, but he didn't know how many -others there might be. The Prince evidently had that discretion whose -lack has been the death of many a bold, but ill-advised, fellow. - -Shakespeare's scenes in _Henry the Fourth_, in which the travellers are -robbed and Falstaff afterwards fooled, were greatly appreciated in his -own day, because such happenings to wayfarers were the merest ordinary -incidents of travel, not only in the time of Henry the Fourth, but in -that of Elizabeth. The play touched life in one of its most familiar -experiences. - - -II.—THE BATH ROAD - -The Bath Road was not far inferior to the old highway to Dover in -records of highway robbery, although they are chiefly of a later date -than the Gad's Hill encounters; but the records of St. Mary Abbot's -Church, Kensington, afford us an interesting peep into a time when the -boundary of that now metropolitan borough, towards Knightsbridge, was -very dangerous to honest folk. Thus we read, in the burial register, -November 29th, 1687, of the interment of "Thomas Ridge, of Portsmouth, -who was killed by thieves, almost at Knightsbridge." - -This was no mere chance case. Some years earlier, John Evelyn recorded -in his diary the ill-repute of the road at this point, and says -robberies took place even while the road was full of coaches and -travellers. The innkeepers of Knightsbridge shared the disfavour in -which these first reaches of the Bath Road were held. When the Duke of -Buckingham and the Earl of Rochester quarrelled, in the time of Charles -the Second, and agreed to fight a duel, the Duke and his second lay at -an inn at Knightsbridge, the night before the encounter, in order to -avoid any suspicion of their intentions and any possible interruption. -Much to their surprise, they found themselves in some danger of being -arrested, not on any charge of breaking the King's peace over the -approaching duel, but on the altogether unexpected suspicion of being -highwaymen, who purposed skulking at an inn for the night, the better -to waylay travellers. "But this," remarks the Duke, in his _Memoirs_, -"I suppose, the people of the house were used to, and so took no notice -of us, but liked us the better." - -And so the neighbourhood remained, very little changed for the better, -until the nineteenth century dawned. - -It seems, looking upon the closeness of modern Knightsbridge to the -very centre of things, almost the language of extravagance to say as -much, but the literature of the ensuing periods fully supports the -truth of it. Thus writes Lady Cowper, in her diary, October 1715: "I -was at Kensington, where I intended to stay as long as the camp was in -Hyde Park, the roads being so secure by it, that we might come from -London at any time in the night without danger, which I did very often." - -In 1736, Lord Hervey wrote from Kensington: "The road between this -place and London is grown so infamously bad that we live here in -the same solitude as we should do if cast on a rock in the middle -of the ocean; and all the Londoners tell us there is between them -and us a great impassable gulf of mud." Impassable roads—through -which, nevertheless, some wayfarers certainly did manage to pass—and -highwaymen may always be bracketed together. Thus in April 1740, only -four years after Lord Hervey had written that doleful letter—and we -may be quite sure the roads had not improved during the interval—the -_Gentleman's Magazine_ recorded that, "The Bristol Mail from London -was robbed a little beyond Knightsbridge by a man on foot, who took -the Bath and Bristol bags, and, mounting the postboy's horse, rode off -towards London." - -On June 3rd, 1752, a professional thief-taker named Norton was -instructed to repair to Knightsbridge, to see if he could apprehend a -man who had on two or three occasions stopped and robbed the Devizes -chaise. He proceeded in a chaise to a lonely inn, known as the "Halfway -House"—half-way between Knightsbridge and Kensington—and as the vehicle -approached, a man stopped it by threats from a pistol. Out jumped -Norton and seized the man, a certain William Belchier, who was hanged, -a little later. - -On July 1st, 1774, William Hawke was executed for a robbery here, and -two others, for a like offence, on November 30th following. Three -highwaymen were thus accounted for, at short intervals, but others, -equally daring, were evidently left, for on the 27th of the next month, -a Mr. Jackson, of the Court of Requests at Westminster, was attacked at -Kensington Gore, by four men on foot. He shot one, and the others fled. - -A Mr. Walker, a London police-magistrate, writing in 1835, said: "At -Kensington, within the memory of man, on Sunday evenings a bell used -to be rung at intervals, to muster the people returning to town. As -soon as a band was assembled, sufficiently numerous to ensure mutual -protection, it set off; and so on, till all had passed." - -Such are the memories that belong to the very beginning of this road; -but they cluster most thickly, of course, around Hounslow Heath, -on which Du Vall very largely practised, in the reign of Charles -the Second. Du Vall is important enough to require a full biography -elsewhere in these pages, and we pass on to others, who merely, so to -say, stride across the stage, and so disappear. - -Hounslow Heath no longer exists as a heath. Enclosure Acts and -cultivation have, during the last hundred years, wrought a remarkable -change upon the scene, and smiling market-gardens now spread for miles -where once existed nothing more than a waste of furze-bushes, swampy -gravel-pits, in which tall grasses and bulrushes grew, and grassy -hillocks. This home of snipe and frogs, and haunt of the peewit, was -not without its highwaymen by day, and at night it swarmed with them. - -There was excellent reason why it should be so particularly favoured. -Through its whole length ran, not only the Bath Road, from Hounslow -town to Colnbrook and Slough, but the Exeter Road, on to Staines. Both -roads were largely travelled to and from the West of England, and the -Bath Road was, in addition, the road to Windsor; and was from that -circumstance travelled by some of the wealthiest and most important -people, who sorely tempted the daring spirits of the age. At a time -when it was possible for a band of conspirators to assemble in Sutton -Lane, near Gunnersbury, for the purpose of waylaying and assassinating -William the Third, on his way from Richmond Park to Kensington Palace -(February 10th, 1696), it was nothing out of the way for noblemen, -returning from a visit to the King at Windsor Castle, to be stopped -and robbed in their carriage when crossing Hounslow Heath. Masked -robbers made no difficulty about endeavouring to halt Lord Ossulston's -carriage here, one day in 1698; and it was merely by good fortune that -he escaped with the loss of two of his horses, shot dead. The Duke of -St. Albans was also attacked; but, with the aid of the gentlemen with -him, beat off his assailants. The Duke of Northumberland, as Macaulay -tells us, was not so fortunate, and fell into the hands of these -audacious ruffians; with what result we do not learn. - -[Illustration: EXCHANGE OF COMPLIMENTS.] - -A silent reminder of those times still stands beside the Bath Road at -Gunnersbury, on the right-hand side of the way as you go from London, -and between the modern church of St. James, and Gunnersbury Lane. This -is an isolated square brick building, now covered with a tin roof, and -quite commonplace in appearance. It has windows looking up and down -the road, and large doors facing it. Until a few years ago, it had an -old pantile roof, whose striking red colour was the only remarkable -feature the building ever possessed. The neighbourhood has long been -largely built over, but it still stands in what remains of the once -wide-spreading Gunnersbury orchards. Local traditions still survive -which tell us that this was a building erected in the time of George -the Second, or Third, for the purpose of sheltering the horse-patrol -that guarded the road when the King passed this way, travelling between -London and Windsor. - -Hounslow Heath would seem often to have been the training-ground on -which young and inexperienced highwaymen first tried their luck. -Graduating here, they would with confidence take the road in distant -shires. For example, we have the careers of Messrs. John and William -Hawkins, Wright, Sympson, and Wilson, whose doings are set forth at -great length by the last of that brotherhood in crime, Ralph Wilson, -who turned King's evidence and so saved himself from the gallows, -and at the same time firmly fixed the noose round the necks of his -surviving confederates. The story of the transactions of this firm was -told by Wilson in a pamphlet published at the modest price of sixpence, -in 1722, shortly after John Hawkins and George Sympson had been turned -off. - -Hawkins was the son of a small farmer at Staines. At fourteen years of -age he went into domestic service, then left it to become employed in -the tap at the "Red Lion," Hounslow. From that situation he rose to be -a butler to a knight; one Sir Dennis "Dulry," according to the rough -and ill-spelled tract (perhaps really Daltry), but was dismissed on -what would seem to have been the well-founded suspicion that he had -taken a hand in a robbery of his master's plate, shortly after entering -his service. 'Twas a way they had in the eighteenth century, which -nobody will deny. - -It may be shrewdly suspected that employment in the tap of the "Red -Lion" at Hounslow had gone a good way towards inclining John Hawkins -toward the road; for, not only would he be brought into contact with -gamesters, but talk of how the bold highwaymen on the neighbouring -heath netted handsome sums formed, doubtless, the staple conversation -of the place. The only wonder is that John Hawkins first went into -service, and did not immediately go padding on the road. He must -have been a singularly youthful butler, for even when he got his -_congé_, and turned his attention to stopping the coaches, he was but -twenty-four years of age. His initial enterprise was carried through -single-handed, and his gains totalled the not despicable sum of £11. -But he returned to the town only to gamble with his plunder, and in -that way soon managed to dissipate it. Finding his solitary career -on the heath a little hazardous, in consequence of meeting a rare -succession of exceptionally brave travellers who did not scruple to -loose off their pistols at a single adventurer, he sought the moral and -physical support of companions of his own vocation. - -It became a syndicate of five; himself, Eyles, Comerford, Reeves, and -Lennard. For two years they dared much in their speciality of robbing -stage-coaches and postboys carrying the mail-bags: those being the days -before mail-coaches, when the bags (or often enough merely a small -wallet, the post being then a comparatively small affair) were carried -on horseback. In proportion to their daring, their takings increased, -but they were always lost in the usual dissipations that give such -a monotony to all accounts of highwaymen taking their ease after -business hours. - -Lennard at last got into trouble and was arrested, and when Hawkins and -a recruit to the gang named Woldridge attempted a rescue, they too were -seized. Three others were arrested, and appear, with Lennard, to have -been hanged. Hawkins and Woldridge were discharged. - -A new confederacy was then planned, but soon broke up, upon a member -named Pocock, who had been flung into gaol, turning informer. Another, -who acted as treasurer, at the same time absconding with their little -earnings, the rest were reduced to poverty and to cursing the appalling -lack of honesty in mankind. - -Hawkins, desperately endeavouring to woo capricious fortune at the -gaming-tables by staking his last coins, then met one Ralph Wilson, at -that time clerk to a barrister of the Middle Temple. He, too, fell from -respectability through gambling, and agreed to turn highwayman with -the new association Hawkins contemplated forming: "The New Highways -Exploitation Company," it might well have been named. John Hawkins's -brother William joined, and George Sympson, and one Wright, among -others. - -The sphere of operations was widened, and business was carried on -with the greatest energy: the Cirencester stage, and those for and -from Gloucester, Worcester, Oxford, and Bristol, being all plundered -one morning. The next day they would be speaking to the Colchester -and Ipswich stages, and on the next would be again in some totally -different direction. - -In midst of this busy time, Wilson succeeded to some small property in -Yorkshire, and left to claim it, and shortly afterwards William Hawkins -and Wright were arrested in the exercise of their adopted trade, and -William Hawkins, to save himself, impeached the others and earned his -liberty by that treachery. Wright might have done so; but he was one -of those rare chivalrous characters who oftener live in the pages of -novels than in real life, and he held his peace, for the sake of the -traitor Hawkins's wife and children. He died in his chivalry, too, -for he was convicted and hanged; while William Hawkins went free, and -presently crossed to Holland with his brother and the brotherhood's -money. They returned when this had all gone; and met Ralph Wilson in -London, whither he had returned, after disposing of his inheritance in -Yorkshire for £350. He had already lost all this in gambling when his -old friends found him. He, the Hawkins brothers, and George Sympson -then set about plans for robbing the Harwich mail, in April, 1722; -but as that mail, they declared, was "as uncertain as the wind," they -decided they could not afford the time to wait on the road for it; and -agreed to turn their attention to the Bristol postboys, or their mail, -instead. - -[Illustration: JOHN HAWKINS AND GEORGE SYMPSON ROBBING THE BRISTOL -MAIL.] - -They fixed upon Hounslow Heath as the most suitable spot for the -job, April 16th and 18th. "The meaning of taking the mail twice," -explains Wilson, in his "Full and Impartial Account," "was to get -the halves of some bank bills, the first halves whereof we took out of -the mail on Monday morning." In the pages of Captain Charles Johnson -we see Sympson and John Hawkins, represented in a large copper-plate -engraving, engaged in robbing two postboys and binding them with rope. -The great size of the highwaymen and the diminutive character of the -postboys seemed to make it an easy task. - -The Post Office was roused to fury by this latest of many impudent -mail-robberies; and Wilson, while taking his ease at the Moorgate -Coffee House in the City, and listening to the gossip, a week later, -heard of a great hue-and-cry undertaken. Seriously alarmed by this, -he contemplated taking a sea-passage to Newcastle, but was traced by -one of the stolen notes and arrested before he could get aboard. The -officers took him at once to the Post Office, where no less a personage -than the Postmaster-General himself examined him; but he disclaimed -all knowledge of the affair, and repeated his denials when he was -re-examined the following morning. - -Meanwhile the Post Office had also secured John Hawkins and Sympson, -and had them detained in the Gatehouse. The Post Office officials then -appear to have in the most Machiavellian way played off one against -the other. They knew well enough that criminals were usually too eager -to save their own necks to care about anything in the way of loyalty -to their companions, and that they were always ready to turn evidence -against them. In this case there seems to have been keen competition to -be first with the confession; but Wilson's evidence was selected, and -it convicted John Hawkins and Sympson, who were executed on May 21st, -1722, their bodies being afterwards hanged in chains at the end of -Longford Lane, three miles on the London side of Colnbrook. - -There is a considerable literature, in the form of old chapbooks, -about these confederates: notably an account by William Hawkins, the -surviving brother of John. Although himself at an earlier period an -informer, having purchased his liberty at the price of his confederate, -Wright's, life, he is found vehemently attacking Wilson for the same -deed, in respect of his brother. - -A mysterious affair, which has never been properly cleared up, was the -death of Twysden, Bishop of Raphoe, in 1752. An Irish Bishop, even -although a Kentish man of ancient descent, did not perhaps rank very -high upon the Episcopal bench, but he was sufficiently exalted to make -the innuendo that he had died from being shot on the Heath while taking -purses at the pistol-muzzle a very startling one. - -Grantley Berkeley says: "The Lord Bishop Twysden, of Raphoe, a member -of the old Kentish family of that name, was found suspiciously out -at night on Hounslow Heath, and was most unquestionably shot through -the body. A correspondent of the _Gentleman's Magazine_ asked, 'Was -this the bishop who was taken _ill_ on Hounslow Heath, and so carried -back to his friend's house (? Osterley Park), where he died of an -inflammation of the bowels?'" - -Twysden was father of the then Lady Jersey, and great-grandfather of -the present Earl. - -In the midst of this wild waste of Hounslow—according to the Honble -Grantley Berkeley, "Houndslot"—Heath, the pretty village of Cranford -stood; and there, too, was, and still is, Cranford Park, long a seat -of the Fitzhardinge Berkeleys. Cranford was a favourite with the fifth -Earl of Berkeley (died 1810), and he used frequently to stay there from -Saturdays to Mondays, even although the journey between it and London -was not infrequently made hazardous by the enterprising gentlemen who -found the Heath a veritable "Tom Tiddler's ground," where they were -always pretty sure to pick up gold and silver. Twice my lord's carriage -had been stopped between Cranford and the village of Hounslow, and -robbed: on the second occasion by a footpad dressed as a sailor, who -with trembling hand pointed a fully cocked pistol at him. While the -Earl was collecting his loose change, the trigger was accidentally -pulled by this nervous footpad. Fortunately it missed fire, or else -there would have been another tragic episode to chronicle. "I beg your -pardon, my lord," exclaimed the man, humbly deprecating his clumsiness; -and, re-cocking his pistol, went off with the Earl's involuntary -contribution. - -There are several variants of Lord Berkeley's adventures here. -According to one, which rather discredits his having been actually -robbed here as well as stopped, he is said to have declared that, while -it was no disgrace to be overpowered by numbers, he at any rate would -never consent to be robbed by a single highwayman. The high-toby gentry -(this version continues) heard of his boast, and one was deputed to -try his mettle. He stopped my lord's carriage and said, "You are Lord -Berkeley, I think?" - -"Yes," replied his lordship. - -"Then," rejoined the man, "I am a single highwayman, and I demand your -money or your life!" - -"You cowardly scoundrel!" exclaimed the Earl, "d'ye think I can't see -your confederate standing behind you?" - -Startled by this, and hurriedly glancing over his shoulder, the -highwayman's attention was for the moment distracted, and Lord Berkeley -shot him dead. - -In the story told by the Earl's son, the Honble Grantley Berkeley, he -says his father, after the adventure with the sailor footpad, swore -he would never be robbed _again_; and thereafter always travelled -at night with a short carriage-gun and a brace of pistols. It was a -November night in 1774, and his carriage, or postchaise, was nearing -Hounslow, from Cranford, when a voice called upon the postboy to halt, -and a man rode up, and, as Lord Berkeley let down the glass, thrust -in the muzzle of a pistol. With his left hand Lord Berkeley seized -it and turned it away, while with the other he pushed the short, -double-barrelled carbine he had with him against the man's body and -fired once. The man was mortally wounded and his clothes on fire, but -he rode away some fifty yards, and fell lifeless. Two accomplices who -were hovering about then fled, leaving the body of their comrade. The -_Gentleman's Magazine_ of that date has an account of the affair in -which it is said that the dead highwayman was traced by means of the -horse he rode, which he had that morning hired in London. His lodgings -were in Mercer Street, Long Acre, and the Bow Street officers had -hardly entered them when a youth, booted and spurred, called and asked -for "Cran Jones," which apparently was the name of the deceased. The -youth, who was an accomplice, was seized, and impeached two others: -one a clerk to a laceman in Bury Street, St. James's, who was traced -along the Portsmouth Road, and to Farnham, where, at three o'clock in -the morning, he was surprised in bed. He was then taken to London. -The other was also apprehended, and all three were brought before Sir -John Fielding. Their names were Peter Houltum, John Richard Lane, -and William Sampson. The last-named had £50 due to him for wages. An -evening newspaper later stated that there were in all seven youths -in custody over this affair. They were from eighteen to twenty years -of age, and the parents of some of them were in easy, and others in -affluent, circumstances; all of them overwhelmed with sorrow by the -sins of their unhappy sons." - -Sir John Fielding, the Bow Street magistrate, had in 1773 written -to Garrick asking him to suppress the _Beggar's Opera_, which he -produced. He said the exploits of Macheath, the highwayman hero, and -the glorification of the criminal life on the stage, were calculated to -reinforce the ranks of the real highwaymen from the scatterbrain and -stage-struck apprentices of town; and it would indeed appear from the -foregoing account that he was correct. - -Hounslow Heath was the scene of many tragedies. It was in November 1802 -that a Mr. Steele, proprietor of a lavender warehouse in Catherine -Street, Strand, was murdered on that then lonely waste. He had gone on -a Friday to Bedfont, where he cultivated a large acreage of lavender, -and intended to return home the following day. As he did not return -at the appointed time, his family concluded he had been unexpectedly -detained on business matters, but when Monday came, and no news of him, -they not unnaturally grew alarmed, and sent a messenger to Bedfont. He -learned that Mr. Steele had only set out on his return on the Saturday -evening, and, being unable to procure a conveyance, had resolved to -return at least a part of the way on foot. - -He was a bold man who, unarmed, should attempt such a journey across -Hounslow Heath in those days; and the unfortunate lavender merchant -paid the penalty of his rashness with his life. His brother-in-law and -other relatives, on receiving the news of his being missing, set out -in search of him, and at last found his mangled body secreted beneath -some clods and turf, under a furze-bush. The first clue to a tragedy -having been enacted was discovered, after many hours' searching over -the heath, in the sight of a piece of blue cloth. Pulling at this, they -found it to be the skirt of his greatcoat, buried in the sandy soil. At -a little distance away they saw a soldier's hat, lying near a bush, and -on the bush itself a great quantity of congealed blood. - -[Illustration: MURDER OF MR. STEELE ON HOUNSLOW HEATH.] - -Mr. Steele had received several wounds on the back of the head, and a -part of his forehead was entirely cut away; but a piece of leathern -belt tightly drawn round his neck showed that he had first been -strangled. This crime was traced to two men, Haggarty and Holloway, -one of them a soldier, who had planned it all beforehand, at the -"Turk's Head" Inn, Dyot Street, Holborn. Evidence was adduced by which -it appeared that a coach passed at a little distance along the road -while they were robbing Mr. Steele, who cried out for help. Holloway -exclaimed, with an oath, "I'll silence him," and beat in his head with -two blows of a bludgeon. - -It is satisfactory to be able to say they were hanged. Both loudly -declared their innocence, but no one believed them. The execution took -place at the Old Bailey, when no fewer than twenty-eight persons among -the immense crowds who had come to see the sight were crushed to death, -and large numbers greatly injured. - -The case attracted a great deal of attention at the time, and copies -are still occasionally found of a terrific engraving representing -the ferocious pair polishing off the unhappy Mr. Steele, one of them -wielding an immense club, fit for a Goliath. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -THE ROADS OUT OF LONDON (_continued_) - - -III.—THE GREAT NORTH ROAD - -Could the gay highwaymen who, a hundred years ago, were gathered to -their fathers at the end of a rope, down Tyburn way, revisit Finchley, -the poor fellows would sadly need a guide. Where, alas! is Finchley -Common, that wide-spreading expanse of evil omen on which those jovial -spirits were so thoroughly at home? Finchley Common, has long since -been divided up between the squatters who grabbed the public land when -Justice winked the other eye, as Justice had a trick of doing years -ago, when the process of enclosing commons was in full swing. There -still exists a large oak-tree by the road at a place called Brown's -Wells, opposite the "Green Man," and in the trunk of this last survival -of the "good old times" there have been found, from time to time, quite -a number of pistol bullets; the said bullets supposed to have been -fired at the trunk to frighten the highwaymen who might chance to be -hiding behind it, under cover of the night. The tree itself has long -borne the name of "Turpin's Oak," no less celebrated a person than the -redoubtable Dick himself having once frequented it. Turpin, of course, -is the greatest of all the rascals who made the name of the Great -North Road a name of dread. Before him, however, Jack Sheppard figured -here; but not, it is sad to relate, in an heroic manner. In fact, -that nimble-fingered youth who was no highwayman—merely a pickpocket -and housebreaker—after escaping from the "Stone Jug" (by which piece -of classic slang you are to understand Newgate is meant) had the -humiliation to be apprehended on Finchley Common, disguised in drink -and a butcher's blue smock. That was the worst of those roystering -blades. The drink was the undoing of them all. If only they had been -Good Templars, or sported the blue ribbon, it is quite certain that -they had not been cut off untimely; and might, with reasonable luck, -have even retired with a modest competence in early years. - -One of the most savagely dramatic encounters on Finchley Common was -that which was enacted on July 11th, 1699, with "Captain" Edmund Tooll, -_alias_ Tooley, prominent on one side, and an unfortunate gentleman, -Mr. Robert Leader, on the other. Mr. Leader was travelling from London -across this waste, in company with his servant, when he was set upon -by Tooll and some companions (one of whom afterwards turned King's -evidence). They stripped Mr. Leader and his man, and, knocking the -unlucky gentleman down, brutally stamped on his face and stomach, -until, fearing he was to be killed, he begged pitifully for his life to -be spared. He then attempted to run away, and the blood-thirsty Tooll -shot him in the back, and wounded him so seriously that he died on the -following day. When Tooll was at length arrested, at the "Blue Ball," -in Jermyn Street, he was wearing some of the murdered man's clothes. He -violently resisted, fired upon the officers, and, shortening a sword -he held, attempted to stab one of them. He retained this spirit even -in the dock, for when his resistance of arrest was mentioned, he said -he was only sorry he had not stabbed the officer to the heart. He was -executed, impenitent to the last, on February 2nd, 1700, and afterwards -hanged in chains on Finchley Common. - -It was in 1724 that Jack Sheppard was arrested by Bow Street runners -on the Common, and the fact somewhat staggers one's belief in the wild -lawlessness of that place. One might just as soon expect to hear of the -Chief Commissioner of Police being kidnapped from Scotland Yard. And -yet it is quite certain Finchley was no safe place for a good young man -with five pounds in his pocket and a mere walking-stick in his hand, -whether he proposed to cross it by night or day. Even sixty-six years -later this evil reputation existed; for, in 1790, the Earl of Minto, -travelling to London, wrote to his wife that, instead of pushing on to -town at night, he would defer his entry until morning, "for I shall not -trust my throat on Finchley Common in the dark." Think of it! And Dick -Turpin had been duly executed fifty years before! - -Between 1700 and 1800, in fact, this was a parlous place, and not one -of the better-known highwaymen but had tried his hand at "touching -the mails" as they went across this waste; or patrolled the darkest -side of the road, ready to spring upon the solitary traveller. Indeed, -the childlike simplicity of the lonely travellers of those days is -absolutely contemptible, considering the well-known dangers of the -roads. For instance, on the night of August 28th, 1720, a horseman -might have been observed in the act of crossing Finchley Common. He had -fifteen guineas in his pocket, and ambled along as though he had been -in Pall Mall, instead of on perhaps the most dangerous road in England. -At a respectable distance behind him came his servant, and, just in -front of him, midway of this howling wilderness, stood three figures. -"There is an eye that notes our coming," says the poet, and three pairs -of eyes had perceived this wayfarer. They belonged to an enterprising -individual named Spiggott and to two other ruffians whose names have -not been handed down to posterity. The weirdly named Spiggott was -apparently above disguising himself; his companions, however, might -have taken the parts of stage brigands, for one of them had the cape -of his coat buttoned over his chin, and the other wore a slouched hat -over his eyes. In addition to this, he kept the ends of his long wig in -his mouth—which seems rather a comic-opera touch than serious business. -It was, however, a favourite and effectual way with highwaymen of -disguising themselves. It is to be hoped, rather than expected, that -the traveller with the guineas saw the humour of it. - -In the twinkling of an eye one brigand had seized his horse and made -him dismount, while the others covered him with their pistols. The -servant also was secured, the guineas transferred with the dexterity -of a practised conjurer, the horses turned loose, and then the three -rode away, leaving the traveller and his servant to get on as best -they could. Spiggott, in 1720, eventually paid the penalty of his -rashness in not disguising himself in accordance with the canons of -his high-toby craft, as taught on the stage, and in novels of the -eighteenth century, in which crape-masks are essential. When he was -caught, with some others, in an attempt on the Wendover waggon at -Tyburn, he was identified by the Finchley traveller. The end of him -was the end of all his kind, but it was not accomplished without -considerable trouble. He, with another prisoner named Thomas Phillips, -was in due form, and on several counts, indicted for highway robbery. -Both refused to plead, and stood silent in the dock. There was in those -times a fearful penalty for refusing to plead to an indictment: the -penalty known to legal jurisprudence as _peine forte et dure_, which -was, rendered into ordinary English, "pressing to death." The space at -Newgate long known as the Press Yard took its name from being the place -where this savage penalty was inflicted. - -There was every inducement in those times for a criminal to refuse -to plead to his indictment. If he pleaded, and was eventually found -guilty, his property was, under the law as it then stood, forfeited to -the Crown, and his relations, even his wife and children, were deprived -of their very livelihood. A man might at one and the same time be an -unmitigated scoundrel, and yet have the very tenderest feelings for his -own, and many such an one endured the fearful martyrdom of pressing -to death in order to preserve his belongings to those who had been -dependent on him. For by enduring so much he could save everything, and -will it as he would. - -The official sentence passed upon those who thus "stood mute of -malice," as the phrase ran, was "That the prisoner shall be remanded to -the place from whence he came, and put in a low, dark room, and there -laid on his back, without any manner of covering except a cloth round -his middle; and that as many weights shall be laid upon him as he can -bear, and more; and that he shall have no more sustenance but of the -worst bread and water, and that he shall not eat on the same day on -which he drinks, nor drink on the same day on which he eats; and he -shall so continue until he die." A refinement of this torture, more -worthy of a demon than a human being, was to place a sharp stone under -the prisoner's body. - -Spiggott and Phillips were both sentenced to this ordeal, and Phillips -was taken in hand first. His courage, however, was not sufficient, -and he asked pitifully to be allowed to stand again in the dock and -plead. This was granted him, rather by way of a favour than as a right, -and he pleaded not guilty, but was convicted and in course of events -hanged. - -William Spiggott was made of somewhat sterner stuff, and elected to -be pressed rather than plead. He was then, as the old picture shows, -stretched out upon the floor, his hands and feet secured, a board -placed upon his chest, and weights up to 350 lbs. gradually added. He -endured half an hour of this, but on another 50-lb. weight being added, -gasped out that he would plead. Such were the Chinese-like methods of -dealing with criminals in Merry England in the Good Old Days. Exactly -who those old days were good for, except the privileged classes, we may -long seek to discover; not with any very great hope of success. - -[Illustration: SPIGGOTT PRESSED AT NEWGATE.] - -Spiggott, being then graciously permitted to plead, was in his turn -tried, found guilty, and hanged at Tyburn. He is notable as having been -the last criminal to suffer this penalty. - -Nathaniel Hawes, who practised on Finchley Common about the same time -as Spiggott and his friends, was taken in 1721 in an unsuccessful -attempt to rob a gentleman on that wild spot. Not only was his attempt -a failure, but he was himself taken prisoner and handed over to justice -by his intended victim. He also refused to plead. He would die, he -declared, as he had lived, a gentleman. The reason for his refusing to -plead was that the brave clothes in which he had been seized were taken -off his back. Like most of his contemporaries, he had a mind, if he -must make the journey to Tyburn, to go there respectably, and to cut a -dash to the last. He would plead if they were returned, but not unless. -"No one shall say I was hanged in a dirty shirt and a ragged coat." - -So they pressed this most particular fellow up to 250 lbs. After a few -minutes he declared himself ready, nay anxious, to plead, and he was -accordingly put back, tried, and found guilty: going those three miles -to Tyburn after all, it is melancholy to relate, in the grimy shirt and -tattered duds of his very proper aversion. - -Of the other names in the long and distinguished roll of road-agents -who figure on Finchley Common at some time or another in their -meteoric careers, it is not possible here to say much. There were the -resourceful and courageous Captain Hind, the whimsically named "Old -Mob," burly Tom Cox, Neddy Wicks, and Claude Du Vall. They have, most -of them, their separate niches in these pages. - -Room, however, by your leave, for those thoroughly business-like -men, Messrs. Everett and Williams, who entered into a duly drawn and -properly attested deed of partnership, by which it was agreed that they -should work together on Finchley Common and elsewhere, and divide the -profits of their labours into equal shares. Their industry prospered, -and the common fund soon reached the very respectable total of £2,000. -But when required to render accounts, and to pay over half this amount, -Mr. Williams, treasurer of this precious firm, refused. The old proverb -of "Honour among thieves" was therefore proved a fallacy. Everett -thereupon brought an action at law against his defaulting partner, -and a verdict for £20 was actually obtained, and appealed against by -the defendant. The court then very properly found the whole matter -scandalous, bad in law, and contrary to public policy. Everett was -sentenced to pay costs, and the lawyers engaged on either side were -fined £50 each for their part in this discreditable affair. - - -IV.—THE OXFORD ROAD - -The way through Uxbridge and High Wycombe to Oxford is largely -illustrated elsewhere in these pages, in the biographies of "Old Mob," -and of Withers, in which Uxbridge and the neighbourhood of Hillingdon -figure largely. Having once passed Hillingdon, travellers were -comparatively unmolested until they came to Shotover Hill, near Oxford. - -Shotover Hill was the scene of the barber's encounter with a knight -of the road. The barber, travelling afoot with a sum of money, had -been foolish enough to explain, in the parlour of an inn, how he had -cunningly hidden his store among the implements of his trade he was -carrying with him. Arrived on the hill-top, he was accosted by the -figure of a road-agent who had, "from information received," a very -accurate knowledge of how much money the barber was carrying, and where -he carried it. - -"Wer—what do you wer—want?" asked the trembling barber. - -"Only a sher—shave," rejoined the knight of the road, mocking the man's -frightened speech; "so out with your shaving-pot and razor, and fall -to't!" And he sat himself down on the grassy bank. - -With fumbling hands the barber undid his bag, and brought forth the -shaving tackle, whereupon the highwayman, stretching his legs as though -by accident, managed to upset the pot. Over it went, and smashed upon a -stone, displaying that store of golden guineas. - -"Ho, ho, my friend!" said the highwayman. "You're not so poor as you -thought. 'Tis treasure-trove, indeed, and of right belongs to the -King. God bless him! But since His Majesty has small need of a matter -of twenty guineas, and I a very pressing one, I'll e'en pouch them -myself!" And, so doing, and vaulting into the saddle, he was gone. - -Along this same route, in the woodland road between West Wycombe and -Stokenchurch, Jack Shrimpton, the highwayman, met a barrister who -greatly admired the horse Shrimpton was riding, and offered him £30 for -it. Needless to say, the coin promptly changed hands, but the horse did -not. - -Shrimpton was a native of Buckinghamshire, and was born at Penn, near -Beaconsfield. He had been in his youth apprenticed to the soap-making -trade, and was afterwards in the army. - -One day he happened in a roadside inn upon a traveller who chanced to -be the common hangman. He took a glass of wine with him, and, talking -over his profession, he asked the hangman, "What is the reason, when -you perform your office, that you put the knot just under the ear? In -my opinion, if you were to fix it in the nape of the neck, it would be -easier for the sufferer." - -The hangman said, "I have hanged a great many in my time, sir; but, -upon my word, I have never yet had any complaint. However, if it should -be your good luck to make use of me, I will, to oblige you, hang you -after your own way." - -"I want none of your favours," replied Shrimpton heatedly, for the joke -had struck nearer home than the hangman could have imagined. - -In yet another incident, Shrimpton does not figure to advantage; and, -one way and another, we shall not perhaps be ungenerous if we think him -to have been something of an ass. - -Meeting a miller who had failed in business, and, losing his all, -had taken to the high-toby profession, he was summoned to "Stand!" -Shrimpton was mounted and armed; the miller was on foot, and had only a -cudgel, and when the practised highwayman produced his pistol, abjectly -surrendered. - -"Surely," said Shrimpton, disgusted with such an amateurish method, -"you are but a young highwayman, or you would have knocked me down -first and bade me to stand afterwards." - -He then confided to the miller that he had recently robbed a neighbour -of £150, and was now waiting for a traveller who was coming with -six-score guineas. "Assist me," he said, "and you shall have half the -booty." - -The miller agreed, but presently, taking Shrimpton off his guard, -knocked him down from behind with his cudgel. As the unfortunate -highwayman lay in the road, slowly regaining consciousness, he saw the -treacherous and villainous miller pouching his gold, and preparing to -hastily depart with his horse. - -"Good-bye," said the miller, "and, harkye, be off as soon as you -can, or I'll have you hanged for robbing your neighbour, by your own -confession." - -"Thus," says the old historian of these things, "the Biter was bit, -and Shrimpton swore he would nevermore take upon himself to learn -strangers how to rob upon the highway." Excellent resolution! But he -had little time wherein to put it into practice, for he was presently -hanged, while his career was yet young, on St. Michael's Hill, Bristol, -September 4th, 1713. - -Of later travellers, by coach or by postchaise, who, fully aware of -the risks they ran on all these great roads running out of London, hid -their valuables carefully in their boots and other places of which they -imagined the highwaymen could have no suspicion, there is not much -space left here to tell. Let it, however, be said that those highwaymen -were as well-informed as are modern Customs officers of likely places -for secreting property; and when the coaches and chaises were stopped, -and the travellers bidden hand over their money and watches, it was no -use for them to declare that they had nothing. At the pistol-muzzle -they were bidden take off their boots or other articles of dress. This -was humorously known among the highwaymen as "shelling the peas." - -[Illustration: "SHELLING THE PEAS."] - - - - -MOLL CUTPURSE: THE "ROARING GIRL" - - -[Illustration: - -MOLL CUTPURSE.] - -Moll Cutpurse must needs have a place here, by right of her intimate -association with the highwaymen, rather than her own exploits. She was -not, in fact, a highway robber at all; nor, of course, was her name -Cutpurse, but Mary Frith. The daughter of a shoemaker, whose name, -as a reporter of the old school might say, does not "transpire," she -was born in Barbican, City of London, in 1592. Tradition tells how -she was born with clenched fists: sure sign of a wild and adventurous -nature. Her muscles and her spirit alike were mannish. As a girl, she -was, in the obsolete language of the seventeenth century, a "tom-rig" -and "rump-scuttle"; and a "quarter-staff" was more agreeable to her -than a distaff. And not only more agreeable, but more natural, and she -worsted many a pretty fellow in fair fight with that weapon, with which -only the strong and the active could prevail. Her father proposed to -apprentice her to a saddler, but she refused, and she was put aboard -a ship bound for Virginia, to be sold into the plantations. It seems -a drastic way with a rebellious daughter; but it failed, for Moll -escaped before even the ship had left the Port of London. Love never -entered into the career of Moll, and as she had the strength of a man -and a masculine voice that procured her the name of the "Roaring Girl," -she early concluded to wear masculine attire. In Middleton's comedy, -written about her when she was still young, he makes a character -declare: "She has the spirit of four great parishes, and a voice -that will drown all the city." It will thus be seen that she was at -an early age well known to those who lived their life in London. And -for excellent reasons. She had not only become a member of a gang of -thieves and pickpockets, who frequented the Bear Garden in Southwark -and other popular resorts, but had graduated with amazing ease and -swiftness in the art of slitting pockets and extracting purses, and -from that had by force of an organising brain elevated herself into the -position of a plotter of robberies and high directress of clyfakers -and bung-snatchers. So well was the destination known of most of the -watches and trinkets that were continually disappearing, that the -owners of them were often knocking at her door in Fleet Street, ready -to ransom their property for a well-recognised percentage of its value, -before the thieves had returned with it; and they had to be politely -requested to call again. In those halcyon days of the receivers of -stolen property, before the evil career of Jonathan Wild had caused an -Act of Parliament to be passed, dealing with them on the same footing -as the actual thieves, much was done in this way of ransom and ready -brokerage, and, so long as it was done with discretion, with advantage -to all concerned. The owners got their own again, with the expenditure -of a comparatively trifling sum, the gang carried on their operations -with a large degree of security, and the wily Moll made an excellent -income. She was witty and original, and—such was the spirit of the -age—she became rather the fashion among the riotous young blades of -town, who were then "seeing life." The highwaymen knew her well, and -resorted to her house when they had taken watches and jewellery they -could not themselves, without the gravest risk, endeavour to sell. They -trusted her, and the public, coming to redeem the articles, did the -same; and indeed, as intermediary between losers and finders, she was -honesty itself: absolutely beyond suspicion. - -Thus wagged the merry days until the Civil War altered the complexion -of things. The times had been growing, for some few years before, -curiously out of joint. The people, once taken with the mad pranks and -outrageous humours of the society in which she moved, had grown more -serious-minded, and the gay gallants who still continued to "see life" -were no longer regarded with indulgence. The ripple of Puritanism that -had arisen in the time of James the First and had then been little more -than a religious expression, had increased in the time of his son to -an overwhelming wave of politico-religious fury. It swept on, blotting -out the theatres, frowning down all levity and finally breaking into -warfare between the two different ideals cherished by Roundheads and -Royalists. - -The gallants naturally became Cavaliers, and went warring for their -King over the country; but in the City there was a strict, stern way -of regarding things that did Moll's business no good. Like all her -associates, she was a Royalist. The alliance perhaps does that cause no -service in the pages of history; but we must take it as we find it, and -make the best or the worst of the fact, just as our own partisanship -dictates. - -She detailed trusty members of her organisation to persecute, in their -own particular way, leading members of the detested party that had -acquired political ascendency. On one occasion, while they robbed Lady -Fairfax on her way to church, the "Roaring Girl" herself set out, -according to the legend, to rob the husband, Fairfax, the Parliamentary -general, with her own hands, on Hounslow Heath. It seems beyond belief, -but the tale is at any rate a very old one, to be traced back almost as -far as her own day. The story tells how she shot Fairfax in the arm, -killed two horses ridden by the servants attending him, and secured all -the money the general had with him. We may go so far as to concede that -this was what the "Roaring Girl" would have rejoiced to do, had it been -possible; but imagination refuses to carry us further. - -Moll's fortune declined during the long years of the Commonwealth, -which fact is, at any rate, something for Cromwellians to plume -themselves upon. That she should live to see the Restoration and -Charles the Second upon the throne, was one of her most ardent desires. -She never doubted that he would be restored, and was careful to leave -a sum of twenty pounds, by will, to celebrate the event, if it should -happen to be deferred beyond her time. She died of dropsy, just one -year before the Restoration took place. - - - - -CAPTAIN PHILIP STAFFORD - - -I do not think, if the highwaymen were with us again, that they would -be treated by their victims with the extraordinary lenience shown -them in those (in that respect) easy-going seventeenth and eighteenth -centuries. It was commonly sufficient for a "knight of the road" who -had been good enough to refrain from abuse or personal violence to say -at parting, "God bless you," and then to shake hands with his victim, -for that victim to go his way and never think of laying an information. -And that is one of the reasons why the high-toby trade flourished so -bravely in times when to be convicted of highway robbery meant death. -The law, in fact, overreached itself, and the awful extremity of the -penalty, so far from discouraging highwaymen, really encouraged their -kind; for those were, after all, not the heartless periods we are -taught to think them, and comparatively few were prepared to swear away -the life of a fellow-creature in revenge for the loss of guineas or -jewellery. Had the penalty been less tragic there would have been more -informations. - -But it was in the years following the Civil War, ending with the -execution of Charles the First, that the roads in general, and -Maidenhead Thicket in particular, attained their greatest notoriety. -The whole country, indeed, swarmed with the adventurers who had -attached themselves to the fortunes of the Cavalier party, and with -gentlemen ruined in the cause of the King; their property sequestrated -by Parliament and their persons subject to arrest. When the fighting -was done, many of them became brigands and preyed upon honest men. If -their victims chanced to be of the opposite faction, well and good; -but it really mattered little to them of whom they levied unlawful -tribute upon the road, and in short, the broken Cavaliers turned -highwaymen, of whom we read in the classic pages of Smith and Johnson, -were no favourable advertisement of their defeated party. Captain -Alexander Smith, to whose diligence we owe the accounts of these -seventeenth-century highwaymen, was himself of Royalist sympathies: -the fact peeps out from almost every page of his work; but he had not -the wit to see that the careers of his sorry heroes, as told by him, -show them in general to be bullies, ready at a moment's notice, with a -gush of cant, to justify their acts, fully as revolting as any of the -cant that ever proceeded from what we are taught to believe was the -canting party. They were a scoundrelly crew, whose highway work was but -an incident, and that a comparatively venial one, in lives compact of -almost incredible viciousness. - -A prominent figure was that of Philip Stafford, a desperate fellow who, -born about 1622, and originally the son of a gentleman-farmer in the -neighbourhood of Newbury, had seen some fighting for the King, and, -like many another highwayman of that period, was known as "captain." -Maidenhead Thicket was a favourite lurk of his. Here it was he met a -clergyman, shot his horse, robbed him of forty guineas, and bound him -to a tree. - -We read that Stafford soon grew successful in his profession and -amassed a considerable sum of money; and then thought it well to -retreat to a village in the north of England, and live there in a -retired and frugal manner. It does not seem a characteristic resolution -for a highwayman to take. The quiet life, it might be supposed, would -not suit such an one. But such is the story told of him. - -The more to avoid suspicion, he assumed the appearance of sanctity, and -attended the village church and the parish meetings, and soon acquired -great popularity as a speaker among the simple country people. After he -had continued there about a year the minister died, and we are expected -to believe the fantastic story that Stafford was elected in his stead, -and that he "acquitted himself to the entire satisfaction" of the -people; until, indeed, he went off with the plate. - -He then, tired of the simple life, resumed his evil courses. Near -Reading he waylaid a farmer, jogging home from market, and, worming -himself into the unsuspecting man's confidence, found he had with -him £33, the price of two loads of wheat just sold. He relieved -the unfortunate man of that sum; but this was his last exploit. -According to Johnson, he had scarcely taken leave of the farmer when -two gentlemen, well mounted, came up, and, being informed of what -had happened, rode after Stafford, and, in the space of an hour, -overtook and dismounted him, seized the money, and carried him before -a Justice of the Peace, who committed him to prison. At the ensuing -Assizes he was tried and condemned. During his imprisonment he lived -in a sumptuous manner, and, after the lax customs of the time, was -even visited by many of his own profession, who formed a plan for his -escape. But rumours of this being noised about, the day of execution -was changed, and the scheme for his rescue was foiled. - -He made the customary brave show at that last scene. Dressed in "a -fine light suit of clothes, with a nosegay in his breast," he at first -appeared perfectly unconcerned, and seems to have been the first of a -long line of bold fellows who, given a last drink at a tavern on the -way, promised to pay for it when they returned: an excellent jest. -But, arriving at the place of execution at Reading, looking wistfully -around, and seeking to prolong the preliminaries, in hope of that -promised rescue, he faltered and trembled when the looked-for friends -made no appearance. Presenting the sheriff with a paper containing a -short account of his adventures, he was duly hanged. - -"By his particular desire," the sheriff had him buried under the tower -of St. Mary's Church. - - - - -CAPTAIN JAMES HIND, THE "PRINCE OF PRIGS" - - -By a general consensus of the opinions current in his age, Captain -James Hind was incomparable among his fellow-highwaymen for courage, -for resource, and for courtesy, and succeeding ages, although prolific -in highwaymen, failed to produce the like of him. - -James Hind was born in 1616 at Chipping Norton, the son of a saddler, -and began life as apprentice to a butcher of that town. The lives -of celebrated men, as told in popular biographies, afford many -contradictions, and the career of Hind, set forth in the innumerable -chapbooks of his own period, of the era of the Catnach press, and in -a robustious kind of juvenile gutter-literature, that has survived -even to our own day, is told in a variety of ways. His course was -sufficiently adventurous, but his biographers have not condescended to -the critical attitude; and thus, among the tales of wonder in which -he moves, there are doubtless many that have simply accrued, just -as the house-flies of summer are attracted to fly-papers. Indeed, -as the highwaymen have ever been something (and generally a good -deal) of heroes, so legends inevitably have gathered round them. If -their exploits have not found a Homer to do for them what the Greek -poet performed for the heroes of the _Iliad_, that is merely their -misfortune, and they have had to be content with a Smith, a Johnson, -and the trivial production of scribblers fortunate in anonymity. - -Among the earliest of the chapbooks dealing with the short life and -merry of Captain Hind is that scarce and curious print entitled _No -Jest like a True Jest_, which presents us with what is quaintly styled -"the true Protracture" of him, reproduced here. Observe his gallant -bearing, the bravery of his dress, his winning smile, his lady-like -feet! He carries a formidable pistol, it is true, but as you note him -standing so debonair beside his gallant charger, you perceive, as it -were, the courtesy and consideration that unfailingly accompanied his -actions, shining out behind the rude methods of the old wood-engraver -who seems to have hewed the portrait out of the wood with a billhook. - -[Illustration: THE "TRUE PROTRACTURE" OF CAPTAIN HIND.] - -According to _No Jest like a True Jest_, which is but indifferently -truthful in many of its details, and does not strike one as being a -jest-book, Hind's father, before apprenticing him to a butcher, "put -him to school, intending to make him a Scholar, but he minded his -wagish Pastimes more than his Book," and so all ideas of a liberal -education were cut off. Nor was the apprenticeship to the butchering -more successful, for he, "having a Running Pate, soon grew weary -of that also, and in conclusion ran away from his Master." Excusing -himself, by complaining of the rough and quarrelsome character of the -master, he borrowed two pounds from his mother, and fled to London. -He was fifteen years of age at this time, and, if we may believe the -biographers—a difficult enough exercise—"he soon contracted a relish -for the pleasures of the town. A bottle and a female companion became -his principal delight, and occupied the greater part of his time. So -precocious were the 'prentice-boys of the early seventeenth century, -and so far did forty shillings go!" - -Ere long this youthful adventurer found his way into the society -of highwaymen. It was in the Poultry Compter, whither he had been -consigned for his part in a drunken riot, that he first made the -acquaintance of Robert Allen, who was expert in most thievish arts. -Over a bottle they struck up a friendship, and Allen presently -introduced him to the gang he himself captained. They were mounted men, -and the first test of the young recruit was the choice of a horse. -He chose, with the unerring judgment in horseflesh that was one of -his distinguishing characteristics through life, the best animal in -the stable. Taken then to Shooter's Hill, and set to bid the first -traveller "Stand and deliver!" he acquitted himself in so finished a -manner as to win the respect of his new comrades, who, witnessing the -exploit from the leafy coverts beside the road, could not withhold -their admiration. - -[Illustration: - - Here now thou seest me as a Butcher's Boy, - And sporting with a Dog in Merriment; - Hereafter, thou wilt read the Tricks I play, - Which may afford Thee pleasure and content. - For there's no Robb'ry yet I ere did doe, - But doth contain at least a jest or two.] - -The horseman whom he thus robbed instantly handed over the ten guineas -he was possessed of, and was no doubt bitterly wondering how he was -to get home in a penniless state, when Hind courteously returned him -one guinea. "This," said he, "is for handsel sake." The watching band -of highwaymen marvelled greatly. Here was an intrepid youngster, the -coolest hand at robbery, courteously giving back a percentage of his -honest earnings. They were witnessing the foundation of a new school -in an old art, a school that, although its fit pupils were few and -far between, did at least establish a tradition that, while it did -not greatly advantage the travelling world, did at least serve to -win a long line of highwaymen an amount of forbearance that seems to -us moderns almost incredible. The law visited highway robbery with -sentences of the utmost ferocity, but individuals, as a general rule, -took their losses, not only with an astonishing philosophy, but with a -remarkable display of good-nature. - - Insult a man, and he may brook it, - But keep your hands out of his breeches pocket, - -says a well-known couplet; but here we have the strange spectacle of -courtesy disarming the resentment caused by the turning out of those -pockets! Hind was not yet the holder of a commission, but he was -evidently already captain of himself. - -Those were successful years, in which Hind scoured the roads with -Allen's band. They robbed by wholesale, but never did the gentlemanly -Hind omit the courteous formula of raising his hat on requesting a -delivery. Your tax-gatherer and rate-collector of modern times do not -do so much, in the presentation of their "Demand Notes." - -Not only did Allen's gang pervade the country upon horseback: they -conducted operations in lordly style, travelling often in carriages, or -setting forth, some equipped as noblemen and others as their servants, -all the better to conduct their campaign of robbery. Allen, of course, -like most highwaymen of that time, was of Royalist sympathies. He -conceived the magnificent idea of waylaying the travelling coach of -no less a personage than His Highness, the Lord Protector of the Realm, -Oliver Cromwell himself, on the way from Huntingdon. Unfortunately, -the coach was guarded by seven servants, unusually full of fight, and -so the attack not merely failed, but several of the highwaymen were -captured, among them their leader, Allen, who, a short time later, -suffered at Tyburn for his error of judgment. Hind was fortunate enough -to escape, by dint of a good horse and excellent horsemanship. - -[Illustration: ALLEN AND HIND ATTACK OLIVER CROMWELL'S CARRIAGE.] - -We are told, however, that Hind's horse was killed by the exhausting -efforts of this escape. Having no money to purchase another (how -on earth did the highwaymen manage to dissipate all the money they -stole?), he was under the necessity of trying his fortune on foot -until he should find means to procure another. It was not long before -he espied a horse tied to a hedge, with a saddle on, and a brace of -pistols in the holsters. - -"This is my horse," cried Hind to the owner, whom he observed on the -other side of the hedge, and forthwith he vaulted into the saddle. - -"The horse is mine, you rascal!" roared the owner, making a dash for it. - -"Sir," rejoined Hind, "you may consider yourself well off, that I have -left you with all your money in your pocket to buy another, which you -had best lay out before I meet you again, lest you should be worse -used." So saying, he rode off in search of new booty. - -To rob the rich, to act as special providence to the poor, to -succour the distressed, and to plague the existence of their -political opponents seem to have been as much the attributes of the -seventeenth-century highwaymen as they were of that merry outlaw, -Robin Hood. It is thus that, in the vilely printed pamphlets written -by illiterates, composed of blunted type, struck off upon incredibly -bad paper by the aid of rickety hand-presses, and sold at the old -country fairs, the highwaymen have always had a niche in the affections -of the rustics, who had no purse nor gear to lose. Hind was of this -type, whether actually or as the creature of legend it is now no use -to inquire. We learn, for instance, how, riding through the town of -Warwick, and hearing a commotion in a side street, he drew rein to -discover the cause. An innkeeper, he was told, had been arrested at -the suit of a rascally old usurer, for a debt of twenty pounds. It -was the work of a few minutes for Hind to leap from his horse, to pay -the money, and thus to release the innkeeper. "Generosity!" you will -exclaim. Well, no; or, at any rate, merely a generous impulse that -cost him nothing but a little physical exertion, for what was easier -to Hind than recovering again those twenty sovereigns! He followed the -money-lender out of the town, and, overtaking him in a lonely place, -said, with his forceful politeness, "My good friend, I lent you, of -late, a sum of twenty pounds. Repay at once, or I take your miserable -life!" - -Twenty sovereigns were with fear and trembling handed over, together -with another twenty, "for interest," and when this ill-used man sought -to recover his due from the innkeeper under legal plea of "duress," or -what not technical terms, he was not only defeated on the innkeeper -producing his signed discharge, but was soundly flogged into the -bargain. - -The fanciful book of Hind's exploits called _The English Gusman_, -published in 1652, contains some marvellous stories, notably that in -which a witch gives him a talisman protecting him for three years. He -had been staying the night at the "George" inn, Hatfield, and leaving -early the next morning, encountered an ill-favoured old woman who -begged alms of him. - -"His horse presently staid, and would go no further. 'Sir,' said the -old woman, 'I have something to say to you, and then you shall be gone.' - -"Hind, not liking her Countenance, puld out five shillings and gave -her, thinking she would but like a Gipsee, tell his fortune, said, -'Good woman, I am in haste.' - -"'Sir,' said she, 'I have staid all this morning to speak to you; and -would you have me lose my labour?' - -"'Speak your mind,' said Hind. - -"The old woman began thus: 'Captain Hind, you ride and go in many -dangers; wherefore, by my poor skill, I have thought of a way to -preserve you for the space of three years; but, that time being past, -you are no more than an ordinary man, and a mischance may fall on you, -as well as another; but if you be in England, come to me, and I will -renew the Verteu of this Charm again.' - -[Illustration: CAPTAIN HIND, THE CAVALIER HERO.] - -"In saying these words, she puld out of her bosom a little box, almost -like a Sun-Dyal, and gave it to Captain Hind, and said to him, 'When -you are in any distress, open this, and which way you see the Star -turns, ride or go that way, and you shall escape all dangers.' - -"So she switched him with a white Rod that was in her hand, and strook -the horse on the buttocks, and bid him farewell. The horse presently -leaped forward with such courage that Hind could not turn to give her -thanks; but, guessing her will it should be so, rode on his way." - -[Illustration: - - Next; here am I presented to thy view, - Mounted aloft upon a gallant Nagg: - And then behinde me doth appear to you, - How I'm enchanted by an ugly Hagg. - For Three years' space: A little time I wot; - Yet many Pranks I plai'd, and Purses got.] - -The talisman, according to the author of these marvels, lasted him -until the time when he was present at the siege of Youghal, and its -expiry was marked by his being wounded there. - -He was a wide traveller, our gallant "Captain." We hear of him as a -"true Royalist," receiving a commission from Sir William Compton, and -find him at the desperate two-months' siege of Colchester, where the -beleaguered Royalists made a last stand for Charles the First. On the -surrender of that town, August 27th, 1648, to Fairfax, he managed to -escape in woman's, or, according to another account, sailor's clothes. - -The scene now shifts to Enfield, and we perceive Hind and the regicide, -Hugh Peters, encountering in the green rides of the Chase. Politely -Hind requests his purse, yet discloses a not altogether inopportune -pistol. To this Peters replies with a defensive volley of texts. "Thou -shalt not steal; let him that stole steal no more," and the like, -together with a variety of paraphrases of the eighth commandment. - -Hind, anxious to answer Peters in his own vein, finds himself a little -floored at first, from want of practice, but presently he begins, -"Verily," says he, imitating the sanctimonious tones of the Puritan, -"if thou hadst regarded the Divine principles, as thou oughtest to -have done, thou wouldst not have wrested them to such an abominable -and wicked sense as thou didst the words of the Prophet, when he said, -'Bind their Kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron.' -Didst thou not then, detestable hypocrite, endeavour from these words -to aggravate the misfortunes of thy Royal master, whom thy cursed -republican party unjustly murdered before the gate of his own palace?" - -[Illustration: - - Stand and Deliver! Next in order comes; - Quickly your Money. Make no stay at all, - For my aim's high, and at those greater sums, - The lesser lead to Tyburn's funeral. - Here's all the difference, as 'tis manifest, - I got their money: they received a jest.] - -Here Peters began to extenuate the action of the regicides, and to -quote Scriptural authority; with an excursus upon the sinfulness of -robbery. - -"Pray, sir," replies Hind, Doctor of Divinity, _pro tem._, "make no -reflection against men of my profession, for Solomon plainly said, -'Do not despise a thief.' But it is to little purpose for us to -dispute: the substance of what I have to say is this: Deliver thy money -presently, or else I shall send thee out of the world to thy master, -the Devil, in an instant." - -"These terrible words of the Captain," we are told, "so terrified the -old Presbyterian that he gave him thirty broad pieces of gold, and then -departed." - -But Hind must needs still further humiliate the enemy. He accordingly -rode after him at full speed, and, overtaking him, addressed him in -this wise: "Sir, now I think of it, I am convinced this misfortune has -happened to you because you did not obey the words of the Scripture, -which says, expressly, 'Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass, -in your purses for your journey,' whereas it is evident that you had -provided a pretty decent quantity of gold. However, as it is now in my -power to make you fulfil another commandment, I would by no means slip -the opportunity; therefore, pray, give me your cloak. You know, sir, it -is commanded that, if any man take away thy cloak, thou must not refuse -thy coat also." - -[Illustration: HIND ROBS DR. PETERS.] - -The old Puritan shrugged his shoulders uncomfortably before he -proceeded to uncloak them, but on Hind assuring him he must needs be -obeyed, he surrendered the garment, and off went the highwayman with it. - -The next Sunday, ascending his pulpit, Peters held forth, with a -natural warmth of feeling, upon the crime of highway robbery, taking -as his text, "I have put off my coat, how shall I put it on?" when an -honest plain man present, who had heard of the incident, exclaimed, -"Upon my word, sir, I believe there is nobody here can tell you, -unless Captain Hind were here." The which put the congregation into -such an excessive fit of laughter that the parson was made to blush, -and descended from his prattling-box without further prosecuting the -subject. - -It was upon the road between Sherborne and Shaftesbury that Hind -fell in with Serjeant Bradshaw, prominent among those who had sat in -judgment upon the King. Bradshaw was in his travelling chariot, and, -progressing with a considerable degree of state, declined to be robbed; -mentioning his name. - -"Pooh!" exclaimed Hind, "I fear neither you nor any king-killing -villain alive. I have now as much power over you as you lately had over -the King, and I should do God and my country good service if I made -the same use of it; but live, villain, to suffer the pangs of thine -own conscience, till Justice shall lay her iron hand upon thee, and -require an answer for thy crimes, who are unworthy to die by any hands -but those of the common hangman, or at any other place than Tyburn. -Nevertheless, though I spare thy life, deliver up thy money, or die for -thine obstinacy." - -To save a miserable life, he put his trembling hand into his pocket, -and drew out about forty shillings in silver, which he presented to the -Captain, who swore he would that minute shoot him through the heart, -unless he found him coin of another species. The Serjeant was then -compelled to present Hind with a purse full of Jacobuses. - -What a devil of talk possessed Hind. To be robbed and insulted, that -was perhaps endurable; but to be lectured—oh, horrible! - -"_This_, sir," says he, receiving the purse, "is the metal that wins -my heart for ever! O precious gold! I admire and adore thee, as much -as either Bradshaw, Prynne, or any other villain of the same stamp. -This is that incomparable medicament which the republican physicians -call the wonder-working plaster. It is truly Catholic in operation, -and somewhat akin to the Jesuit's powder, but more effectual. The -virtues of it are strange and various; it maketh justice deaf, as well -as blind; and takes out spots of the deepest treasons, as easily as -Castile soap does common stains. It alters a man's constitution in -two or three days, more than the virtuoso's transfusion of blood can -do in seven years. 'Tis a great alexiopharmick, and helps poisonous -principles of rebellion, and those that use them. It miraculously -exalts and purifies the eyesight, and makes traitors behold nothing -but innocence in the blackest malefactors. It is a mighty cordial for -a declining cause: it stifles faction and schism, as certainly as the -itch is destroyed by butter and brimstone. In a word, it makes fools -wise men, and wise men fools, and both of them knaves. The very colour -of this precious balm is bright and dazzling. If it be properly applied -to the fist, that is, in a decent manner, and in a competent dose, it -infallibly performs all the above-mentioned cures, and many others, too -numerous to be here mentioned." - -With this, probably having quite exhausted himself, he haughtily -pistolled the six horses that drew Bradshaw's carriage, and so left the -unfortunate regicide, stripped of his money, deprived of all means of -locomotion, and stunned by his flow of verbiage. - -This, like the most of Hind's exploits, was robbing on the grand -scale. To be sure, he rarely stooped to little larcenies, for he was -a practical philosopher among the "skilful surveyors of highways -and hedges" that he and his kind were pleased to style themselves. -"Remember what I tell you," he would say; "disgrace not yourselves for -small sums, but aim high, and for great ones; the least will bring you -to the gallows." - -There spoke the "Prince of Prigs," who was indeed so notable in his own -lifetime that he had the honour accorded him of a play written around -his exploits while yet he survived to add to them. It is not a good -play, but that is no fault of our "gentleman" highwayman: the thing -is that it should have been written and printed at all. Thus runs the -title-page, that he himself may have read: - - An Excellent Comedy - called, The - PRINCE OF PRIGGS - Revels: - or - The Practises of that grand Thief Captain - JAMES HIND - Relating - Divers of his Pranks and Exploits, never - heretofore published by any. - Repleat with various Conceits, and Tarltonian Mirth, - suitable to the Subject - - Written by J. S. - - London, Printed for G. Horton, 1651. - -Seventy pounds he took from Colonel Harrison, another of the regicides, -on the Bath Road, at Maidenhead Thicket; and so at one and the same -time avenged his King and full-lined his pockets. A hue-and-cry was -raised immediately, and the "Captain" was in danger long before he -suspected it. It was an innkeeper who warned him—for the taverners and -tapsters of that, of earlier, and of succeeding ages were ower sib to -the gentlemen of the high-toby trade, and stood them in good stead -whenever possible. - -In this situation, it seems, Hind experienced an unwonted access of -nervousness, and was apprehensive of every person he met upon the road. -He had reached Knowl Hill, some four miles only from the spot where -he had held up Harrison in his carriage, when a gentleman's servant, -George Symson by name, riding at full speed after his master, came -dashing by. With his mind full of the hue-and-cry raised after him, -Hind, supposing this to be one of his pursuers, turned about, and -raising his pistol, shot the unfortunate man dead: the only occasion of -his taking life. - -In May 1649, he was at The Hague, in the councils of Charles the -Second. Thence, after a three days' stay, he crossed to Ireland and was -made a corporal in the Duke of Ormonde's Life Guards. Wounded in action -with Cromwell's troopers before Youghal, he escaped to Dungannon, but -plague raged there, and he sailed for Scilly, which had a clean bill of -health, and was, moreover, the safest place in which a hunted Royalist, -highwayman or not, could at that time find himself. For, when all else -had failed, even in the staunch and long-enduring West, the Scilly -Isles still held out for the cause. The King was dead, but his son -reigned in the hearts of the Cavaliers, and a faithful band, captained -by Sir John Grenville, retired to that remote archipelago, fortified -the islands, and made them a privateering base. It was not until June -1651, that Blake's flotilla forced them to surrender. - -Meanwhile, so famous had Hind become, that rumour posted him everywhere -where highway robberies were reported. He was already in his lifetime a -kind of bogey, or will-o'-wisp sort of a fellow, who could miraculously -be in at least two places at one and the same time. Thus, while he was -certainly in Scilly, _The Perfect Weekly Account_ of September 13th, -1649, reports from Bedford: "Last night was brought into this gaol, -two prisoners taken up upon pursuit by the county, for robbing some -soldiers of about £300 upon the way, in the day-time: there were five -in the fact, and are very handsome gentlemen: they will not confess -their names, and therefore are supposed to be gentlemen of quality, and -'tis conceived they are of the knot of Captain Hind, that grand thief -of England, that hath his associates upon all roads. They strewed at -least £100 upon the way, to keep the pursuers doing, that they might -not follow them." - -No doubt this would have been an enterprise entirely after Hind's own -heart; but he was not there, nor were the highwaymen of his company. - -Again, September 20th: "Yesterday about 20 horse of Hind's party (the -grand highway thief) in the space of two hours robbed about 40 persons -between Barnet and Wellin. They let none pass, to carry news while they -staid about this work, by which means they all escaped before the -county could be raised, but the Lord General's horse are diligent in -seeking after them." - -Hind remained in the sanctuary afforded by the Scilly Isles for eight -months, and then travelled to the Isle of Man, where he sojourned -thirteen weeks. There had been little scope for his peculiar activities -on Scilly, but he found more opportunities on the Isle of Man, the -kingdom at that time of my lord the Earl of Derby, to whom he obtained -an introduction. He even became what modern diplomats would describe -as a _persona grata_ in that island Court. Robbery had been unknown -in this most fortunate of the Fortunate Isles before ever Hind set -foot there; but with his advent a perfect epidemic of highway robbery -prevailed. The Manxmen would have been of the densest had they not -connected the coming of Hind with these disasters, and they laid -their suspicions before the Governor, Sir Philip Musgrave, who, -with Hind by his side, in good-fellowship thought the insinuation -absurdly ungenerous. Hind declared his innocence, but protested his -willingness to suffer the extremest penalty of the island laws, if -he were recognised for the thief. This offer was not so impetuously -ingenuous as it looked, for, naturally, if he were so recognised, he -would perforce, in the usual course of affairs, be made to suffer; and -secondly, he had already taken the precaution of robbing in disguise. -The Manxmen had come to the Governor with tales of an aged, hairy -man, with long hair and beard; and confronted with the youthful -Cavalier-like Hind, protested with apologies, that this was not the -man. And then, when they were gone, what must our tricksy Captain do -but produce, for the Governor's amusement, the shameless wigs and -costumes in which he had masqueraded. There must have been a deal -of fellow-feeling in that Governor, and little humour. Your true -humorist could not possibly have resisted the obvious conclusion to the -screaming farce, and would have had Hind fettered and sent off at once -to the deepest dungeon available. - -[Illustration: HIND SHOWS HIS DISGUISE.] - -Hind then went across the Border into Scotland, where preparations -were afoot for an armed invasion of England on behalf of Charles -the Second. At Stirling he loyally kissed the hand of His Majesty -and offered his services, not in taking purses on the road, but -in fighting for the cause. The King commended him to the Duke of -Buccleuch, and he came south and fought for Charles (the "King of -Scots," as the Republicans were pleased to call him) at the disastrous -Battle of Worcester. Escaping in the headlong flight, he hid himself -in London. Near the close of that year, 1651, lodging in the name of -James Brown, in the house of one Denzys, who exercised the trade of -a barber over against St. Dunstan's-in-the-West, in Fleet Street, he -was betrayed to the Republican party and carried before the Speaker of -the House of Commons, who, after a lengthy examination "in regard to -his late engagement with Charles Stewart, and whether he was the man -that accompanied the Scots king for the furtherance of his escape," -committed him in irons to the Gatehouse. There was a choice before -his captors of the charge to be preferred. At first he was removed to -Newgate, and tried at the sessions for highway robbery. A rude woodcut -in a biography shows him, visited by his wife and father, at this stage -of affairs, with a pitiful verse beneath. - -The charges not being sustained by sufficient evidence, he was sent -under a strong guard to Reading, there to be tried, March 1st, 1652, -for the murder of George Symson at Knowl Hill. Convicted of this, -he would forthwith have been hanged, had it not been for an Act -of Oblivion that had been passed, securing an indemnity for "all -past offences." This, apparently, did not include the offence of -high treason; and so reduced, much against their will, to making a -political martyr of Hind, the high personages of the Commonwealth, -after endeavouring to dispose of him on the ignoble charges of highway -robbery and murder, removed him by Order in Council to Worcester gaol, -where he was condemned for high treason. - -[Illustration: - - Behold! at last, the saddest sight of all; - Poor Hind! Now in the hole at Newgate lies, - His wife and father both lament his thrall - And are much troubled at his miseries. - His book and candle his companions be; - Though now in chains, he hopes for liberty.] - -The book published at this period, entitled _The English Gusman_, one -of those purporting to give an authentic life of Hind, narrates a -conversation in his cell, here or at Newgate. Hind says: "I had not -been here now if there had not been a Judas abroad, for indeed I was -betrayed by one who formerly served the King, but now he is for you -(pointing to a Captain who was present), but God forgive him." - -The keeper of the prison then called him from the fireside to the -window, to see if the iron shackles upon his legs were in order. - -"Well," said Hind, "all this I value not threepence. I owe a debt to -God, and a debt I must pay. Blessed be His name, that He hath kept -me from shedding blood unjustly, which is now a great comfort to me. -Neither have I wronged any poor man of the worth of a penny, but I must -confess that I have (when I have been necessitated to) made bold with -a rich bumpkin, or a lying lawyer, whose full-fed fees from the rich -farmer doth too much impoverish the poor cottage-keeper." - -The many "witty jingles" he put forth occasioned much laughter, but a -gentleman standing by said, "Captain, you are not brought hither for -robbing, but for treason." - -"Treason," replied Hind; "I am not guilty in the least." - -"Yes, sir," replied the gentleman, "you are, for complying with Charles -Stuart, and engaging against the Commonwealth of England." - -"Alas! sir, it seems that is enough to hang one." - -"I am afraid you will find it so," answered the gentleman. - -"Well, God's will be done," replied Hind; "I value it not threepence -to lose my life in so good a cause; and if it were to do again, I -protest," said he, laying his hand on his breast, "I would do the -like." - -"Come," said the keeper, "no more of this discourse; clear the room." - -Hind in due course suffered the hateful penalty for high treason at -Worcester. He maintained a light and frolicsome demeanour to the last. -"These are filthy, jingling spurs," he remarked with a laugh, pointing -to the fetters that clanked about his legs as he walked from the bar, -"but I hope to exchange them ere long." - -He was drawn to the scene of execution, then hanged, and afterwards -quartered: his head being placed midway on the Severn bridge, and the -other portions of him over the several gates of the city, September -24th, 1652. - - - - -JOHN CLAVEL, "GENTLEMAN" - - -One of the really notable highwaymen of the early years of the -seventeenth century was John Clavel, who came from an ancient, if -perhaps not particularly distinguished, family, tracing their descent -back to Walter de Clavile, in the reign of William the Conqueror. For -more than seven hundred years the Clavel, or Clavell, family flourished -in a modest way upon their manor of Smedmore, on the Dorset coast, in -the neighbourhood of Kimmeridge, and finally ended with the death, -_s.p._, as genealogists would say, of George Clavel in 1774. The only -Clavel who fully emerges from the obscurity in which the family were -content to remain, from the days of the original Walter until those of -the ultimate George, is John Clavel, whose vocation was robbery under -arms upon the highway. What laid this calling upon him, the personal -history of John Clavel does not inform us; but probably, when we -consider that he was merely a nephew of Sir William Clavel, the head of -the family, we shall be correct in placing him among those younger sons -and expectant heirs who, however great were their expectations in some -more or less remote future, were generally, in the present tense, not -only poor, but head over ears in debt. As the history of the highwaymen -has already shown us, their ranks were very largely recruited from -those youthful members of reputable families, whose family name was -better than their personal credit. Confound the law of primogeniture, -and pity the sorrows of a younger son with an excellent ancestry and an -empty purse! - -Our present hero, John Clavel, who was born in 1603, was -heir-presumptive to his uncle, the Dorset squire. Whether that uncle -kept him shorter of money than an heir should be, or whether he was -a gamester who sought to repair his losses at cards or dice by the -hazard of the road, who shall say? Not I. Perhaps he even robbed on the -highway for sheer joy of it: such sportsmen were not unknown. But, by -all accounts and just inferences, he had been no mere amateur, out for -a solitary adventure, when he was laid by the heels and cast into the -King's Bench Prison. He had made an occupation of highway robbery. - -Thus we read, in one of the _News Letters_ written by Joseph Mead, -that purveyor of London intelligence to country gentlemen in 1626: -"February 11th, Mr. Clavell, a gentleman, a knight's eldest son (?), a -great highway robber, and of posts, was, together with a soldier, his -companion, arraigned and condemned, on Monday last, at the King's Bench -bar. He pleaded for himself that he had never struck or wounded -any man, had never taken anything from their bodies, as rings, etc., -never cut their girths or saddles, or done them, when he robbed, any -corporeal violence. He was, with his companion, reprieved. He sent the -following verses to the King, for mercy: - - I that have robb'd so oft, am now bid stand; - Death and the law assault me, and demand - My life and means. I never used men so; - But having ta'en their money, let them go. - Yet must I die! And is there no reliefe? - The King of Kings had mercy on a thiefe! - So may our gracious King too, if he please, - Without his council, grant me a release. - God is his precedent, and men shall see - His mercy goe beyond severity." - -[Illustration: JOHN CLAVEL. - - That I may neither brave another's blame - Through wronge suspicions, nor yet act ye same - At any time hereafter, but prove true:— - Loe! to be knowne, you have my face at viewe.] - -He was reprieved, as the newsmonger tells us, but that was not -sufficient. He must not merely escape the death-sentence, but be set -free. To that end he wrote in October 1627, in prison, the curious -pamphlet, largely in verse, styled the _Recantation of an Ill-led -Life_, and published in the following year. He does not forget to style -himself, on the title-page, "Gentleman," and has even a Latin tag; -perhaps, you know, as evidence of his gentility. Yet he grovels through -many pages in so abject a style no man of spirit could endure. Whether -he was so thorough-paced a highwayman as he tearfully declares himself -to have been is, of course, not to be resolved by us, at this interval -of time; but, according to his own showing, he was not only an adept, -but deep in the counsels of the high-toby gloaks and a past-master -in all their devices. These, with the hope of a pardon, he proceeds -to betray, at much length, in his "recantation," which he describes -as "A discouerie of the Highway Law. With Vehement dissuasions to -all (in that kind) offenders. As also Many cautelous Admonitions -and full Instructions, how to know, shun, and apprehend a Theefe. -Most Necessarie for all honest Trauellers to per'use, obserue, and -Practise." This travellers' handy handbook was "Approued by the King's -most Excellent Maiestie, and published by his expresse Command," by one -Robert Meighen. - -The _Recantation_ sets out with an extraordinary number of rhymed -dedications addressed to the King, the Queen, the Ladies of the Court, -"the Right Honourable the Lords of His Maiestie's most Honourable -Priuie Counsaile and Counsail of Warre," the Judges of the King's -Bench, and others; ending with an appeal to the "Right Worshipful, his -euer dear and well-approued good Uncle, Sir William Clavell, Knight -Banneret," whom he requests: - - ... if againe - I euer take a course what shall be vaine, - Or if of any ill I faultie be, - O then for ever disinherit me. - -But Sir William did even better than that. To be on the safer side, he -disinherited him at once, without waiting for his nephew to prove the -sincerity of his professions, and bequeathed his estates to a distant -relative. - -In the meanwhile, however, John Clavel did at any rate manage to -produce a popular book. Three editions of it are known; but whether -the book was purchased as a curiosity, or as a practical guide to safe -travelling upon the highways, there is nothing to show. The heads of -his counsel are interesting: - -"Acknowledgement and Confession. - -"Absolute Defiance of those that follow my late course of life, living -vpon the spoile. - -"The highway law. - -"How soon they spend what unlawfully they get. - -"Instruction for the honest traueller: What he is to take heed vnto, -before he take his journey. - -"How to carry himself in his inn. - -"The danger of trauelling on the Sabbath Day. - -"How as he rides he shall know a thief from an honest man. - -"An instance how dangerous it is to grow familiar with any stranger -upon the way. - -"When to ride. - -"Where to ride. - -"How to ride. - -"What is best to be done if he is beset. - -"If by chance he is surprised, how to behave himself. - -"Being robbed, how to follow, which way to set forth the Hue and Cry, -how to coast, and where to find the thieves," etc., etc. - -He appears to have largely favoured the Dover Road, in his professional -exploits: - - ... Though I oft have seen Gad's Hill and those - Red tops of mountains, where good people lose - Their ill-kept purses, I did never climb - Parnassus Hill, or could adventure time - To tread the Muse's Mazes, or their floor, - Because I knew that they are lightly poor, - And Shooter's Hill was fitter far for me, - When pass'd releases for my own poverty. - -He then proceeds to tell in verse how the inns are often kept by -landlords in league with highwaymen, who not infrequently spend thrice -as much as honest travellers, or whose servants are either placed there -by the knights of the road, or are bribed by them to investigate the -contents of travellers' saddle-bags and valises. - -Having done this, the hints he next gives to innkeepers, on how to -distinguish between highwaymen and decent travellers, seem rather -superfluous. As to the stigmata of the highwaymen themselves, besides -those - - vizards, hoods, disguise, - Masks, muzzles, mufflers, patches on their eyes; - Those beards, those heads of hair, and that great wen, - Which is not natural. - -there are the following simpler devices: - - Next of a theefe, the vsuall markes be these, - (Which as you ride you may observe with ease) - They muffle with their cloakes, or else their coate - Hides all their clothes, that so you may not note - What sutes they haue, a handkercher they were - About their neckes, or Cipresse, which they reare - Ouer their mouthes, and noses, with their hand - Iust at the time when as they bid you stand; - Perhaps since here I haue discouered this, - They will now leaue them off, that you may misse - Your obseruation, be you therefore sure - As soone as they come riding somewhat neere, - To gaze full at their faces, you shall see - Them turn their heads away, as if so bee - They had spide something on the tother side, - Which if they doe, then keepe your distance wide. - -Obviously, the better course for the highway robber who loved his -profession, and not only meant to rob successfully, but to live long in -the enjoyment of his gains, was to carefully dress the part. To muffle -themselves up in cloaks, like conspirators, would be to send even the -least prudent traveller off in hurried flight. Such methods were mere -danger-signals, and no security against subsequent recognition. But -with an artificial nose, or a bushy beard, and little transforming -touches of that sort, a careful road-agent might reckon on a long and -lucrative practice; always supposing he kept his own counsel and held -aloof from bad company. This, however, judging from the careers of most -of their kind, seems to have been asking too much. - -But to return to the strange fortunes of John Clavel. His piteous -appeal from prison (or perhaps rather the family influence brought to -bear) at length procured him release. He promised in his book, if set -at liberty, to fight for his King: - - ... I do intend - Whilst these your wars endure, even there to spend - My time in that brave service. - -But there is nothing to show how he occupied himself when once again -he was restored to society; there is, however, a curious little notice -added to the third edition of the _Recantation_, by the publisher, by -which it would seem gossip had been doing an injustice to our sinner -repentant. Thus it reads: - - "The late and general false report of his relapse and untoward - death, made me most willing again to publish this work of his, - to let you know he not only lives, but hath also made good all - these his promises and strict resolutions: insomuch that it has - become very disputable amongst wise men, whether they should most - admire his former ill-ways, or his now most singular reformation, - whereat no man outjoys his friend and yours.—RICHARD MEIGHEN." - -This brand plucked from the burning appears to have died in 1642. - - - - -WILLIAM DAVIS, THE GOLDEN FARMER - - -There stands on the summit of the steep hill as you go westward out -of Bagshot, along the Exeter Road, a commonplace inn at the fork of -the roads leading respectively to Camberley and to Frimley. The "Jolly -Farmer"—for that is the name of the inn—looks squarely eastward, down -the hill, and seems no doubt, to most who pass this way, not worth -even a glance. Nor, indeed, is it beautiful or interesting. Its former -sign, however,—the sign of the "Golden Farmer"—enshrined an interesting -story of the road. The forerunner of the present house stood on the -right-hand side of the way, and was named the "Golden Farmer," in -allusion to a highwayman, once only too well known in the neighbourhood. - -William Davis flourished in the seventeenth century. Born at Wrexham, -he was early taken to Sudbury, in Gloucestershire, where he eventually -married the daughter of a wealthy innkeeper. He had eighteen children, -and it would almost seem, by the tone of his early biographers, that -this unfortunate fact went some way towards excusing his career. He -was, to the day of his death, a farmer, and for a good many years -cultivated land in the neighbourhood of Bagshot; a district remarkable -in those times rather for wild heaths than for agricultural value. And -long it remained of this character, and infested with highwaymen, for -we find the poet Gay in 1715, in his fine narrative poem, _A Journey to -Exeter_, writing: - - Prepared for war, now Bagshot heath we cross, - Where broken gamesters oft repair their loss. - -Mr. William Davis was a man very greatly respected for his singular -habit of always paying his debts in gold. Paper money—whether notes, -bills, or cheques—never passed from him to his creditors. Good, honest -guineas, of red, minted gold—tender no man refused—were his only -medium. Those who did business with him thought this an eccentricity, -but an amiable one; and as the years went on, he accumulated more and -more respect. - -But in all those years he was in reality a busy highwayman. Many -stories are told of him, and by them it appears that he did by no means -confine his activities to the neighbourhood of Bagshot. Prudence now -and again sent him further afield, to till—to adopt a formula that -would have appealed to him as a farmer—comparatively uncropped ground. -Thus we find him once ranging so far as Salisbury Plain, and there -bidding the coachman, who was driving the Duchess of Albemarle, to -rein in his horses, or—presenting a pistol—take the consequences. He -had "a long engagement" with postilion, coachman, and two footmen, and -wounded them all. He does not appear to have suffered; which does not -say much for the marksmanship, the courage, or the resource of the -Duchess's guard, whose guardianship was thus proved so ineffectual. -But it is a hero-worshipping biographer of highwaymen, who tells the -story. The "Golden Farmer" seems on this occasion to have departed from -his almost invariable custom, and to have torn the Duchess's diamond -rings from her fingers. Probably he would have had her watch also, -only the appearance of some other travellers made him prudently fly: -followed by a torrent of bad language from Her Grace, who could hold -her own with the best, or worst, in that line, having been, before she -married General Monk, none other than Nan Clarges, washerwoman, and the -daughter of a blacksmith, and well versed in abuse. - -Anon, we have the "Golden Farmer" on Finchley Common. He had waited -there one day, riding back and forth between four and five hours, -hoping for some likely traveller, and none had come. Imagine him, -shivering in the bitter blast, and angrily wondering what had become of -every one. At last a young gentleman came riding along, unconscious of -danger. Up rode the highwayman to him, and gave him a flap across his -shoulders with the flat of his hanger. - -"How slow you are!" he exclaimed. "A plague on you, to make a man wait -on you all the morning! Come, deliver what you have, and be curst, and -then go to Hell for orders." - -The traveller declared he had nothing about him, but that, the -highwayman remarked, was nonsense. - -Then, searching the unresisting young gentleman's pockets and taking -a gold watch and about one hundred guineas, he gave him three parting -strokes on the back, and, telling him in future "not to give his mind -to telling lies when an honest gentleman required a small boon of him," -cantered away. - -One day, having paid his landlord £80, he carefully disguised himself, -and in a solitary situation met him with the command to "stand and -deliver!" - -"Come, Mr. Gravity from Head to Foot, but from neither Head nor Foot to -the Heart," said he, "deliver what you have, in a trice." - -The "old, grave gentleman" heaved a deep sigh, to the hazard of losing -several buttons off his waistcoat. "All I have is two shillings. You -would not take that from a poor man." - -"Pooh!" rejoined the "Golden Farmer," "I have not the faith to believe -you, for you seem by your manner and habit to be a man of better -circumstances than you pretend; therefore, open your budget, or else I -shall fall foul about your house." - -"Dear sir," wailed the old gentleman, "you can't be so barbarous as to -rob an old man. What! have you no pity, religion, or compassion in you? -Have you no conscience? You can have no respect for your own body and -soul, which must certainly be in a miserable case, if you follow these -unlawful courses." - -"D——n you," rejoined Davis, "don't talk of age or barbarity to me, for -I show neither pity nor compassion to any. What! talk of conscience -to me! I have no more of that dull commodity than you have; nor do I -allow my soul and body to be governed by religion, but by interest; -therefore, deliver what you have, before this pistol makes you repent -your obstinacy." - -There was no help for it, and the rent found its way back from landlord -to tenant. - -Again the "Golden Farmer" is found in a new setting; this time upon the -Oxford Road. The particularly evil character of this road was enlarged -upon in 1671 by Richard Brockenden, writing to Sir Richard Paston, and -describing what he called "a new set of highwaymen," who robbed every -night, unlike the old hands, who evidently rested frequently from -their labours to enjoy the fruits of their shy industry, and must have -resembled Sir W. S. Gilbert's lawless but light-hearted gang, who sang: - - We spend our nights on damp straw and squalid hay - When trade is not particularly brisk; - But now and then we take a little holiday, - And spend our honest earnings in a frisk. - -The infamous "new set," who robbed every night, cannot command our -sympathy; they were too pushful. William Davis, however, belonged to no -set. He was complete in himself; and if he too robbed without ceasing, -he had those eighteen children of his to support. It was near the -London end of the Oxford Road that the following adventure took place: -at none other than the village of Hillingdon, near Uxbridge. - -It seems, then, that the "Golden Farmer," dressed in appropriately -rustic style, overtook near Gerrard's Cross a certain Squire Broughton, -a barrister of the Middle Temple, and entered into conversation with -him. When he learned the profession of this chance acquaintance, he -pretended to be on his way to London to advise with a solicitor, -and, expressing himself as fortunate in meeting one learned in the -law, asked him if he could recommend counsel. Broughton, scenting -business, bespoke for himself, and the "Golden Farmer," spinning a -cock-and-a-bull story of some neighbour's cattle breaking into his -fields and doing a vast amount of mischief, sought his opinion. - -"It is very actionable," said the lawyer, "being Damage Fesant." - -"Damage Fesant?" asked the highwayman. "What's that, pray, sir?" - -The lawyer, with much show of learning, duly expounded the matter; -and so, as evening drew in, they came to the "Red Lion," Hillingdon, -discussing the Law of Trespass, the extent to which the farmer was -probably damnified, and the pros and cons of the whole bogus affair. - -Passing a very pleasant night at the "Red Lion," they set out together -the next morning, still talking law. - -"If I may be so bold as to ask you, sir," said the Golden Farmer, "what -is that you call Trover and Conversion?" - -"Why," said the lawyer, "that is easily explained. It is an action -against one who has found any property, and, refusing to deliver on -demand, converts it to his own use." - -They were now on Hillingdon Heath, a lonely place, not yet lined with -mean houses and paltry shops, and still to wait a matter of two hundred -years before Mr. Whiteley's factory and stable-yards were built beside -the road. - -"Very well," said the Golden Farmer, "and if I should find any money -about you, and converted it to my own use, that would be merely -actionable?" - -"That would be highway robbery," rejoined the man of law, "and would -require no less satisfaction than a man's life." - -"A robbery!" exclaimed the highwayman. "Why, then, I must e'en commit -one for once; therefore deliver your money, or this pistol shall -prevent you reading Coke upon Littleton any more!" - -"You must be joking!" exclaimed the lawyer, edging away. - -But the Golden Farmer, presenting the pistol to his breast, advised -him to "down with the rhino, or he would get his mittimus by summary -process." The man of law still hesitated. - -"Do you think," said he, "there is neither heaven nor hell?" - -"Why," rejoined the highwayman, "thy impudence is surely very great to -talk of heaven or hell to me! D'ye think there's no other way to heaven -but through Westminster Hall? Come, come, down with your rhino this -minute, for I have other customers to mind than to wait on you all day!" - -Thus adjured, the lawyer reluctantly handed over "thirty guineas and -eleven broad pieces of gold," besides some silver and a gold watch. - -The "Red Lion," Hillingdon, is standing to this day, and the crowds who -frequent it in these times when the electric trams pass its door, may -feel a romantic thrill as they connect the house with this story. - -Hillingdon Heath figures also in the next adventure. - -"Well overtaken, brother tinker!" exclaimed the "Golden Farmer," as one -day he came up with an itinerant mender of pots and kettles; "methinks -you seem very devout, for your life is a continual pilgrimage, and in -humility you go about barefoot, thereby making necessity a virtue." - -"Ay, master," replied the tinker, "needs must when the Devil drives, -and had you no more than I, you, too, might go without boots and shoes." - -"That might be," quoth the "Golden Farmer"; "but as for yourself; -you, I suppose, march all over England with your bag and baggage?" - -[Illustration: THE GOLDEN FARMER AND THE TINKER.] - -"Yes," said the tinker, "I go a great deal of ground, but not so much -as you horsemen, and I take a great deal of pains for a livelihood." - -"Yes," rejoined the highwayman, "I know thou art such a strong enemy to -idleness that, mending one hole, you make three." - -"That's as you say," retorted the tinker; "however, sir, I wish you and -I were farther asunder, for i'faith I don't like your company, and have -a great suspicion of you." - -"Have you so?" said the highwayman; "then it shall not be without a -cause: come, open your wallet forthwith, and deliver that parcel of -money that's in it." - -The unhappy tinker begged he would not rob him. If he did, he said, he -must needs be forced to beg his way home, over a hundred miles. - -But the "Golden Farmer" had no mercy. "D——n you," said he, "I don't -care if you have to beg your way _two_ hundred miles, for, if a tinker -escape Tyburn and Banbury, it is his fate to die a beggar." - -So saying he made off with the tinker's money and wallet too. - -At last the "Golden Farmer" met his long-deferred doom, and in his -own district. The Exeter Road, in the neighbourhood of Bagshot, had -long been haunted by a highwayman, who robbed impartially the early -coaches of that age, or the travelling chariots of the great. This -highwayman had his peculiarities. Others might risk stealing notes -and jewellery, but he refused all trinkets, and took coin only. The -strange thing is that no one in Bagshot or round about seems to have -exercised the simple art of putting two and two together and making -a total sum of four; or, in other and less metaphorical phrase, of -deducing the "Golden Farmer," who paid only in gold from the unnamed, -masked highwayman who took only gold. The two were, of course, one, and -so much was discovered one night when, the highwayman having as usual -stopped and plundered a coach, a traveller who had secreted a pistol -shot him in the back as he was making off. - -Bound hand and foot, the wounded man was taken to the "King's Arms," -where, to the astonishment of all, he was recognised as the "Golden -Farmer." - -Fact and fiction are so intermingled in these stories of the "Golden -Farmer's" exploits, that it would be almost as easy to unravel the -real history of Robin Hood himself, as to present a biography of him -that should have much pretence to truth in detail. It seems we are -not even on sure ground when we set his name down as William Davis, -for in a collection of old printed trials at the British Museum we -find a William Davis, identified with the "Golden Farmer," executed -in September, 1685, for being the principal figure in a burglary and -felony committed in company with one John Holland and Agnes Wearing at -the house of a minister, one Lionel Gatford, in Lime Street, City of -London. Agnes Wearing suffered with him, but Holland was reprieved. - -Yet, although this Davis was turned off in 1685, we find, by the -_London Gazette_ of September 9th, 1689, that there were then in -custody at Newgate two persons suspected of being housebreakers and -robbers, several instruments for breaking into houses having been taken -with them: "one calling himself William Freeman, whose right name is -William Hill, commonly called the 'Golden Farmer,' an indifferent, -tall, black Man, well set, with black hair, has a shaking in his Head, -and is between 50 and 60 years of age." This advertisement proceeds to -notify that "those robbed may have a sight of them at Newgate."[5] - -[Illustration: EXECUTION OF THE GOLDEN FARMER. - - _From a contemporary woodcut._] - -Another story tells how he was pursued in Whitefriars, London, the -old-time Alsatia of rogues and vagabonds behind Fleet Street. He shot -dead a butcher who tried to stop him, but was tripped up and secured, -at the corner of Salisbury Court and Fleet Street, where he was -afterwards hanged, December 20th, 1689, in his sixty-fourth year: or, -by another account, December 20th, 1690. His body was afterwards hanged -in chains on the threshold of his own house at Bagshot. - -On a broadsheet ballad, published on the occasion of his execution, -entitled _The Golden Farmer's Last Farewell_, a rude woodcut appears -at the head of the verses, in which you see a very small figure -hanging most comfortably from a gallows-tree, with a thoroughly -happy expression upon his face, while a small crowd (assorted sizes) -contemplates his sad end with a variety of emotions, ranging from -amusement to contempt. The verses are typical of the penny literature -of the age, and do not necessarily follow his career with any slavish -regard to truth: - - Unto you all this day, - my faults I do declare, - Alas! I have not long to stay, - I must for Death prepare; - A most notorious Wretch, - I many years have been, - For which I now at length must stretch, - a just Reward for Sin: - No Tongue nor Pen can tell - what sorrows I conceive; - Your Golden Farmer's last Farewell, - unto the World I leave. - - A Gang of Robbers then - my self did entertain; - Notorious hardy Highwaymen, - Who did like Ruffians reign: - We'd rob, we'd laugh, and joke, - and revel night and day; - But now the knot of us is broke, - 'tis I that leads the way: - No Tongue nor Pen can tell, etc. - - We houses did beset, - and robb'd them night and day, - Making all Fish that came to Net, - for still we clear'd the way; - Five Hundred Pounds and more, - in Money, Gold, and Plate, - From the right Owner we have bore, - but now my wretched State, - No Tongue nor Pen can tell, etc. - - We always gagg'd and bound - most of the Family, - That we might search until we found - their hidden Treasury; - A sword-point at their throat, - a Pistol cock'd straightway, - Presented at their Breast, to make - them show us where it lay: - No Tongue nor Pen can tell, etc. - - I having run my Race, - I now at last do see, - That in much shame and sad disgrace, - my Life will ended be: - I took delight to rob, - and rifle rich and poor, - But now at last, my Friend, Old Mob, - I ne'er shall see thee more: - No Tongue nor Pen can tell, etc, - - The Blood which I have spilt - now on my Conscience lies, - The heavy, dreadfull thought of Guilt, - my Senses do's surprize; - The thoughts of Death I fear, - although a just Reward, - As knowing that I must appear, - before the living Lord. - No Tongue nor Pen can tell, etc. - - I solemnly declare, - who am to Justice brought, - All kind of wicked Sins that are, - I eagerly have wrought; - No Villains are more rife - than those which I have bred, - And thus a most perfidious Life - I in this World have led: - No Tongue nor Pen can tell, etc. - - Long have I liv'd, you see, - by this unlawful Trade, - And at the length am brought to be, - a just Example made; - Good God, my Sins forgive, - whose Laws I did offend, - For here I may no longer live, - my Life is at an end. - No Tongue nor Pen can tell, etc. - - - - -THOMAS SIMPSON: "OLD MOB" - - -The name of Thomas Simpson arouses no emotions of love or hate, -of fear or of admiration. He is just "Thomas Simpson," plebeian, -undistinguished amid the other hundreds of Thomas Simpsons who have -worn a commonplace name throughout a commonplace career, and so ended; -the world appreciably no better for their existence, and certainly -not noticeably worse. There have been perhaps thousands of Thomas -Simpsons, but there has been only one "Old Mob." The Thomas Simpson, -who rose to fame with that picturesque nickname, was born at Romsey, in -the New Forest, in the first half of the seventeenth century. We are -told little of his early life, and merely learn that he continued to -live at Romsey as his only home, "until he had five children and some -grandchildren." His education, we further learn, without surprise—for -it was the seventeenth century, you know—"appears to have been greatly -neglected." It was impudence, however, more than anything, more even -than courage, that ever made the successful highwayman: the 'ologies -were useless on the hard high road, under stars, when a carriage worth -robbing drew nigh; nor even would the elementary three R's help a man -any the better to thrust a pistol through a window and cry "Stand!" - -Old Mob had little education and less manners. Your Du Valls and -Captain Hinds might bring the manners of society and the refinements -of the ball-room into the keen air of the highway; for him there was -but the rasping tongue of command and the contact of the cold muzzle of -his pistol with your nose. He ranged the south and west of England very -freely, and is found on one occasion in the Eastern Counties. - -Accounts of his career generally open with his encountering a certain -Sir Bartholomew Shower, between Honiton and Exeter. The road in the -neighbourhood of Honiton Clyst is still little frequented, and at that -time must have been singularly lonely. Old Mob called upon the knight -to "stand and deliver," and Sir Bartholomew delivered accordingly, and -with a pleasing readiness because he had the merest trifle on him, and -thought to have thus escaped easily. But Old Mob was disappointed, and -proportionably wroth: "My demands, sir, are very large and pressing," -he said, "and therefore you must instantly draw a bill for one hundred -and fifty pounds and remain in the next field for security till I have -received the money." - -The knight vainly protested that there was no one in Exeter who had -so large a sum by him, but Old Mob would take no denial and led him a -long distance away from the road, tied him to a tree, and compelled -him to draw a bill for the amount on a goldsmith in the city. Then he -rode into Exeter, duly cashed it and, returning, released his prisoner. -"Sir," his biographer reports him as saying, "I am come with a _habeas -corpus_ to remove you out of your present captivity"; which he did, -leaving him to walk home the distance of three miles. - -This last remark attributed to Old Mob, the uneducated, is no doubt -a biographical frill, inserted to fitly round off the incident. What -should he know of _habeas corpus_? This was a vice of which the -biographer of the knights of the road could by no means rid themselves. - -It was upon the road between Newmarket and London that Old Mob halted -the carriage of no less a personage than Louise de la Kérouaille, the -notorious Frenchwoman, favourite of Charles the Second, whom that -monarch had created Duchess of Portsmouth. - -[Illustration: "OLD MOB" ROBS THE DUCHESS OF PORTSMOUTH.] - -"Do you know who I am, fellow?" demanded that haughty lady, indignant -at being stopped by so mean-looking an object. - -Now, for such as the Duchess of Portsmouth and her kind to ask such a -question of a highwayman was singularly rash. Captain Alexander Smith -and "Captain" Charles Johnson, in their folio volumes of the _Lives of -the Highwaymen_, published in 1719 and 1742, respectively, describe Old -Mob's reply, either in his own words, or excogitated out of their own -inner consciousness, according to their own ideas of probability; but -these present pages are in octavo volumes and this is the twentieth -century, and for one of these reasons, or both—as you please—it is -really not possible to reprint the vigorous reply of Old Mob to the -Duchess's request. He not only told her who she was, but also, in the -sheerest unornamental language, _what_ she was, as well. Among other -things: "You are maintained at the public expense. I know that all -the courtiers depend upon your smiles, and that even the King is your -slave. But what of all that? A gentleman-collector upon the road is a -greater man, and more absolute than His Majesty is at Court. You may -now say, madam, that a single highwayman has exercised his authority -where Charles the Second of England has often begged a favour." - -Her grace continued to gaze upon him with a lofty air, and told him he -was a very insolent fellow: that she would give him nothing, and that -he should certainly suffer for his insolence. "Touch me if you dare!" -she exclaimed. - -"Madame," rejoined the highwayman, "that haughty French spirit will do -you no good here. I am an English freebooter, and I insist upon it, as -my native right, to seize all foreign commodities! Your money is indeed -English, but it is forfeited, as being the fruit of English folly. All -you possess is confiscated, as being bestowed upon one so worthless. -_I_ am King _here_, madame! I have use for money, as well as he. The -public pay for his follies, and so they must for mine." And Old Mob -thereupon gathered in two hundred pounds in gold, "a very rich necklace -which her Royal paramour had lately given her," a gold watch, and two -diamond rings. - -You will observe an intolerable tendency in Old Mob to moral -reflections: as though he were one who had missed his vocation, and -would have been more legitimately employed in improving the occasion -from the pulpit. And not only Old Mob held forth in this manner. His -contemporaries—if we may believe Messrs. Smith and Johnson—did the -like: in very unclerical fashion, it is true, for they sandwiched -their preaching with the most horrible oaths and blasphemies: all duly -printed at length by those authorities, without the decent veil of the -blushing "——," or the discreet "*." It was a singularly mixed method; -but the preachments are all of so singular a likeness that we may -shrewdly suspect them to be the inventions of their biographers. The -cursings and revilings we may take as being the highwayman's very own. -They were instinctively employed to strike terror into the hearts of -unfortunate wayfarers, just as in olden Chinese warfare the pig-tailed -warriors came on with grimaces and with shields pictured with hideous -masks. - -"Old Mob" then met "Old Gadbury, the Astrologer," and stopping him and -demanding his money, "the Starry Prophet began to plead Poverty, but -this did not move him at all to Compassion." - -"You lying Rogue," quoth he, "can you that possess all the Seven -Planets of Free-hold, and let them out on Lease to the Stationers' -Company, plead Poverty to me. No, no, you must not sham Poverty to me; -come, come, your Money presently, or this Pistol, shall be worse to -you than the raging Dog Star that threatens Death and Diseases to a -Country." - -And "Old Gadbury" had thereupon to make a speedy delivery. - -The next most outstanding enterprise of Old Mob was the halting -of Judge Jeffreys in his coach, some time later than that Judge's -assize of blood in the West. The highwayman, setting suddenly upon -the equipage, disabled the two servants who accompanied it, and then -demanded his lordship's money. - -"I am Sir George Jeffreys," quietly remarked the judge, with a world of -meaning, as he severely eyed the pistol presented at him. That plain -statement was designed to send a pang of apprehension through the -aggressor; and, indeed, the lowering presence of the judge had made -many a prisoner brought before him quail; but Old Mob, by the best -accounts, does not appear to have been greatly impressed. He was ready -as ever with his moral remarks. - -Jeffreys reminding him that a Providence existed which governed the -world, and that he might therefore expect to be duly punished for his -iniquities, he held forth in his best pulpit style: "When justice has -overtaken us both, I hope to stand as good a chance as your lordship, -you, who have written your name in indelible characters of blood and -deprived many thousands of their lives, for no other reason than their -appearing in defence of their just rights and liberties. It is enough -for you to preach morality upon the Bench, when no person can venture -to contradict you; but your words can have no effect upon me. I know -you too well not to perceive that they are only lavished upon me to -save your ill-gotten wealth." Then, his eloquence in this vein being -exhausted, thundering forth a volley of oaths, and presenting a pistol -to his breast, he threatened the judge with instant death, unless -he surrendered his money. Perceiving that his authority was of no -consequence to him upon the road, Judge Jeffreys thereupon handed over -the gold he had about him, amounting to fifty-six guineas. - -To recount the many improbable stories told of Old Mob, singly, or in -conjunction with his sometime ally, the "Golden Farmer," would be to -tell many stupid tales, and to convict oneself of credulity. He was -caught at last, and, being convicted on thirty-four out of thirty-six -indictments, was duly hanged, with nine others, September 12th, 1691. -He declared, on the scaffold, that "while he continued to Rob on the -Highway, he pray'd at the same Time that God would forgive it, and that -it eas'd his mind something." It was added that "though he had wounded -several Persons, yet he affirm'd he never murder'd any; which, to be -sure, was very forbearing and obliging of him." - - - - -CLAUDE DU VALL - - -Claude Du Vall ranks among his brother highwaymen as high as Rembrandt -or Raphael among artists. He was, indeed, no less an artist in his own -profession than they. He might not, and probably did not, acquire as -much of other people's property on the road as did Hind or Whitney; but -artists are not necessarily money-makers. Such as were his takings, he -took them with a finished grace and a considerate courtesy, that not -even the Prince of Prigs, in his best moment, ever quite attained. We -do not learn, for example, that Hind, the "Gentleman Thief," footed it -on the heath in a graceful dance with one of his victims, as did Du -Vall; but Hind had not the advantage of that foreign blood which made -Claude skip for gladness in the midst of alarms. - -In the _Memoires of Monsieur Du Vall_, published in 1670, only a few -days after the hero's death from the effect of a hempen cravat, we have -the sole authority for the merry tales told of him. It is a curious -production. From it we learn that: - -"Claude Du Vall was born Anno 1643 at Domfront, in Normandy, a place -very famous for the excellency and beautifulness of the air, and for -the production of mercurial wits. At the time of his birth there -was a conjunction of Venus and Mercury, certain presages of very -good fortune, but of a very short continuance. His father was Pierre -Du Vall, a miller, his mother, Marguerite De la Roche, a tailor's -daughter." - -The author of these remarkable memoirs then proceeds to say, in surely -a very cynical manner: "They lived in as much reputation and honesty -as their conditions and occupations would permit." This, of course, is -a sly fling at both the business of a miller and that of a tailor; for -honest millers have from the earliest times been proverbially as scarce -as honest lawyers; while for tailors to "cabbage" the cloth entrusted -to them has always been expected. - -Du Vall's biographer then ranges from sarcasm to an indignant defence -of his birth and parentage. - -"There are some," he says, "that confidently aver he was born in Smock -Alley, without Bishopsgate, that his father was a cook, and sold boiled -beef and porridge; but their report is as false as it is defamatory and -malicious." - -"It was easy," he continues, "to disprove this in several ways, but the -chief argument against it was this: If he had been born in Smock Alley, -he would not have been a Frenchman, but if he had not been a Frenchman, -it was quite impossible he should have been so much beloved in life -and lamented in death by the English ladies." - -Early in life, a wandering priest who happened upon his parents' -humble dwelling, found a mark upon his head as of two crowns: a sure -sign, said the priest, that he was to be a traveller. Then, adopting -something of the _rôle_ of a fortune-teller, he declared the boy would -never be long without money; and, wherever he went, "he would always -have the exceeding favour of women of the highest condition." - -The rustic miller and his wife looked upon the priest as an oracle, -but wondered how such fortune would come to pass. Nothing visible -on the horizon of their lives warranted any such expectations. They -were miserably poor, and kept themselves but little warmed by that -comparative honesty of which we have already read. So when Claude grew -to the age of thirteen or fourteen, he was turned adrift from the old -home, to fend for himself. His parents did what they could, but that -did not amount to much. A little less unexpected honesty on their part -would have enabled him, no doubt, to enter upon the world under better -circumstances: but as it was, the best they could do was to buy him -shoes and stockings—things he had never before known—and a second-hand -suit of clothes. This outfit, and twenty sous given him at parting, was -all his property. As he went they threw an old shoe after him for luck, -and bid him go seek his fortune. - -The boy made his way to Rouen in the first instance. There he was -promised a ride to Paris on one of the post-horses he saw in the -courtyard of an inn, if he would earn that lift by helping stable -them for the night. He willingly agreed, and was fortunate to meet at -the same inn a number of English youths, who, with their tutors, were -returning by way of Paris to England. In return for such use as he -could be to them in practising their insufficient French, they employed -and fed him for the few days they remained in the country. - -In Paris, according to our admiring but discriminating biographer, "he -lived unblameably during this time, unless you esteem it a fault to -be scabby, and a little given to filching; qualities very frequent in -persons of his nation and condition." So, employed about stables and -inn-yards in Paris, he continued until the Restoration of the monarchy -in England in 1660 brought about the return of many exiles. In the -service of one of the many "persons of Quality" who then crossed the -Channel, went Claude Du Vall, who by this time was seventeen years of -age. - -The joy that expressed itself all over England at the return of -Charles the Second degenerated into riotous excess. Dissipation and -every species of profligacy abounded among upper and middle classes, -and the servants of the wealthy were apt pupils of their masters in -these excesses. Highwaymen, whose profession had languished miserably -under the Commonwealth's later rule, reappeared on every road, and -were drawn from all classes. Footmen and lackeys found a singular -fascination in the occupation of the high-toby crack, and early among -them was Du Vall, who in a short time became so dexterous in his new -employment, that he had the honour of being the first named in a long -list of highwaymen proclaimed in the _London Gazette_. - -It has already been acknowledged that violence had no part in the -methods of this artist, and he would have scorned, you may be sure, -the ruffianly, and even murderous acts of a later generation of the -craft, who not only despoiled travellers of their goods, but rendered -the roads dangerous to life and limb. His chief exploit, upon Hampstead -Heath, is classical, and is set forth so eloquently, and with such -an engaging profusion of capital letters, in the _Memoires_ that one -cannot do better than quote it. By this account it would appear that he -was the captain of a gang: - -"He, with his Squadron, overtakes a Coach, which they had set over -Night, having Intelligence of a Booty of four hundred Pounds in it. -In the Coach was a Knight, his Lady, and only one Serving-maid, who, -perceiving five Horsemen making up to them, presently imagined that -they were beset; and they were confirmed in this Apprehension by seeing -them whisper to one another, and ride backwards and forwards. The Lady, -to shew that she was not afraid, takes a Flageolet out of her pocket -and plays. Du Vall takes the Hint, plays also, and excellently well, -upon a Flageolet of his own, and in this Posture he rides up to the -Coachside. 'Sir,' says he to the Person in the Coach, 'your Lady plays -excellently, and I doubt not but that she dances as well. Will you -please to walk out of the Coach and let me have the Honour to dance one -Currant with her upon the Heath? 'Sir,' said the Person in the Coach, -'I dare not deny anything to one of your Quality and good Mind. You -seem a Gentleman, and your Request is very reasonable.' Which said the -Lacquey opens the Boot, out comes the knight, Du Vall leaps lightly off -his horse and hands the Lady out of the Coach. They danced, and here it -was that Du Vall performed Marvels; the best Masters in London, except -those that are French, not being able to shew such footing as he did -in his great French Riding Boots. The Dancing being over (there being -no violins, Du Vall sung the Currant himself) he waits on the Lady to -her Coach. As the knight was going in, says Du Vall to him, 'Sir, you -have forgot to pay the Musick.' 'No, I have not,' replied the knight, -and, putting his Hand under the Seat of the Coach, pulls out a hundred -Pounds in a Bag, and delivers it to him, which Du Vall took with a very -good grace, and courteously answered, 'Sir, you are liberal, and shall -have no cause to repent your being so; this Liberality of yours shall -excuse you the other Three Hundred Pounds,' and giving the Word, that -if he met with any more of the Crew, he might pass undisturbed, he -civilly takes his leave of him. He manifested his agility of body by -lightly dismounting off his horse, and with Ease and Freedom getting -up again when he took his Leave; his excellent Deportment by his -incomparable Dancing and his graceful manner of taking the hundred -pounds." - -[Illustration: CLAUDE DU VALL DANCING THE CORANTO ON HOUNSLOW HEATH.] - -Our own times are more sordid, and it is to be feared that not the -extremest display of grace in the robber would find any one ready to -excuse the loss of a hundred sovereigns. - -As the old priest had foretold, years before, Du Vall became the -ladies' favourite. "Maids, widows, and wives," we learn, "the rich, -the poor, the noble, the vulgar, all submitted to him," and he led the -gayest of lives in London. - -He knew Blackheath as well as Hounslow, and there, with his companions, -met a coach full of ladies and a child with a feeding-bottle. Rudely, -one of the gang rode up, violently robbed the ladies of their watches -and rings, and did not scruple even to steal the child's silver bottle. -The air resounded with the shrieks of the cheated infant and the cries -of the ladies. Up rode our gallant hero, with threats to instantly -shoot the man unless he returned the bottle. "Sirrah!" he exclaimed, -"cannot you behave like a gentleman and raise a contribution without -stripping people. But perhaps you yourself have some occasion for the -sucking bottle, for by your actions one would imagine you were hardly -weaned." - -Soon after this Du Vall thought it politic to retire for a while to -France. A humorous story was told of his fooling an eminent Jesuit -confessor, known less for his piety than for his political meddling and -his avariciousness. He was a very wealthy man, and Du Vall, hearing -of his hoards, was anxious to have a share in them. He made the -confessor's acquaintance in the guise of a scholar, and said he was one -who had studied the sciences and only wanted a patron as eminent as -himself, through whose introductions he desired to serve his country by -applying the knowledge he had acquired. - -"And of what special branch does your knowledge consist?" asked -the Jesuit. "If you can and will communicate anything that may be -beneficial to France, I assure you no proper encouragement shall be -wanting on my side." - -Du Vall, growing bolder, said: "Sir, I have spent most of my time in -the study of alchemy, or the transmutation of base metals into gold, -and have profited so greatly at Rome and Venice, from association with -men learned in that science, that I can change several metals into -gold by the help of a philosophical powder, which I can prepare very -speedily." - -The prospect of immense riches that might be his, if only he cultivated -the acquaintance of this man of science, dazzled the confessor. -"Friend," he said, "such a thing as this will indeed be a service to -the State, and particularly grateful to His Majesty the King, who, -as his affairs stand at present, is in great need of such a curious -invention. But," he added, with some remains of cunning criticism, -"before I credit what you say, so far as to communicate it to His -Majesty, I must see some proof of your skill." - -Du Vall agreed; but said, as only a poor student of these things, -he had not the appliances necessary. These the confessor agreed -to provide, and fitted up a laboratory for him in his own house. -Everything being complete, Du Vall gave a demonstration of his alchemic -science. He took several metals of the baser sort, and put them into a -crucible, the confessor watching him the while. Du Vall had prepared -a hollow stick, into which he had introduced several inlays of real -gold; and with this stick he stirred the white-hot crucible, until the -base metals were in a flux, and the stick itself was almost entirely -consumed. On the crucible being cooled, and its contents examined, it -was duly found that a considerable amount of gold was mixed with what -had been base metals. - -The Jesuit was delighted with the success of the experiment, and a -series of equally satisfactory tests was entered upon. Du Vall at last -fully acquired his confidence, and a complete knowledge of where his -treasure was deposited, and, finding him one evening in a heavy sleep -(to which he had perhaps contributed by drugging his wine), gently -stole his reverence's keys, earned off as much of his hoarded wealth as -he conveniently could, and hastened to England. - -It was, for several reasons, high time he returned to our shores. There -was, his biographer tells us, no room in France for a highwayman. "In -truth, the air of France is not good for persons of his constitution, -it being the custom there to travel in great companies, well armed, -and with little money. The danger of being resisted, and the danger of -being taken, are much greater there; and the quarry much lesser than -in England. And if, by chance, a dapper fellow, with fine black eyes, -and a white peruke be taken there, and found guilty of robbing, all the -women in the town don't presently take the alarm, and run to the King -to beg his life." - -So we see that the narrator of Du Vall's life, certainly did not -approve of the hero-worship accorded him. - -But Du Vall's career was now fast drawing to a close. His exploits as -a highway chevalier had grown too notorious for him to be allowed to -range any longer at will on the roads around London. At times, perhaps -fully informed of his exceeding danger, he would employ himself in -another art, in which he was an expert—the art of cheating at cards, in -which an exceptional sleight-of-hand served him in good stead. Apart -from these qualities, a handsome personal appearance, and a skill in -dancing and playing the flageolet, he seems to have been as ignorant -as any other ex-stable-boy, or page-boy of his era; for in a curious -notice of him in the _London Gazette_ of January 1670, he is described -as a man "of singular parts and learning, though he could neither read -nor write." The different clauses of this eulogy seem at first sight -quite irreconcileable; but the "learning," no doubt, refers rather to -social graces, than to ordinary education. - -He was captured when the worse for drink, at a tavern called the "Hole -in the Wall," in Chandos Street, Covent Garden. He had three pistols in -his pocket at the time, one of them "which would shoot twice," and had -a sword at his side. "If he'd been sober, it was impossible he could -have killed less than ten," says the author of the _Memoires_; adding, -"He would have been cut as small as herbs for the pot, before he would -have yielded to the bailey of Westminster," only the drink he had taken -did not permit him the use of his legs. - -He was executed at Tyburn, on January 21st, 1670, in spite of the many -efforts made to secure a reprieve. After the hanging, he was given a -lying-in-state at the "Tangier" tavern, St. Giles's, the room being -draped in black, relieved with escutcheons. Eight candles burnt around -him, and eight tall gentlemen in long cloaks kept watch. Many ladies of -fashion and beauty went, masked, with tear-stained faces, to see him; a -thing which seems incredible to ourselves, and was in fact considered -extraordinary at the time. The author of the _Memoires_ himself -realised this, for we find him declaring the truth of it; although he -says he expected to be accounted by his readers "A Notorious Lyer." - -The Judge who had tried Du Vall regarded the exhibition as scandalous, -and caused the room to be cleared; but the highwayman was given a -splendid funeral in St. Paul's church, Covent Garden. He was but -twenty-seven years of age at his death. A handsome stone, decorated -with heraldic achievements (not his own, for he boasted none), was -placed over his grave, and on it this epitaph: - - Here lies Du Vall: Reader, if Male thou art, - Look to thy purse; if Female, to thy heart. - Much havoc has he made of both; for all - Men he made stand, and woman he made fall. - The second Conqueror of the Norman race, - Knights to his arms did yield, and Ladies to his face. - Old Tyburn's Glory; England's illustrious thief, - Du Vall, the Ladies' Joy; Du Vall, the Ladies' grief. - -This was destroyed when the original church was burnt in 1759. - - - - -FRANCIS JACKSON, AND HIS "RECANTATION" - - -We know little of this highwayman, however notorious he may have been -at the time of his execution, April 14th, 1674. The exceedingly rare -tract entitled _Jackson's Recantation_, gives no trace of his Christian -name; nor does it, although professing to be a "Life," tell us when or -where he was born, or the position his parents occupied. The tract is -by way of an autobiography, but it is couched in such general terms -that very few facts are to be extracted from it. It is in this, and -in some other particulars, not unlike John Clavel's "Recantation" of -forty-seven years earlier; only Jackson writes in ambiguous prose, -while the other exercises himself in verse. - -The title-page of Jackson's repudiation of his wicked ways may with -advantage be given here, as a specimen of the type of chapbook then in -vogue. - -But although Jackson's own autobiography affords no satisfaction to the -enquirer, hungry for facts, and although the Old Bailey Sessions Papers -of the period are not preserved, a clue is found to - - Jackson's Recantation - - OR, THE - - LIFE & DEATH - - OF THE - - NOTORIOUS HIGHWAYMAN - - NOW - - HANGING in CHAINS - - AT - - HAMPSTEAD - - DELIVERED - - To a Friend, a little before Execution; Wherein - is truly discovered the whole Mystery of - that Wicked and Fatal Profession - Of PADDING on the ROAD - - [Illustration: [++] Printer's Mark.] - - _LONDON_, - - Printed for I. B. in the Year 1674 - -the last adventure of himself and his associates in another tract -entitled as under: - - The - CONFESSION - Of the Four - HIGH-WAY-MEN - - As it was Written by One of them, and - Allowed by the Rest the 14th of this - Instant _April_ (being the Day before - their Appointed Execution). - - { John Williams, alias Tho Matchet - { Francis Jackson, alias Dixie - Viz:—{ John White, alias Fowler - { Walter Parkhurst. - - * * * * * - - This being desired to be made Publick by the Persons themselves, - to prevent false reports of them when they are Dead. - - * * * * * - - With Allowance - - * * * * * - - London. Printed for D. M. 1674. - -By this it appears that Jackson's Christian name was Francis, and -that the robbery, in which he and his associates (so anxious that -their reputations should not be fouled by false reports) were finally -surprised and taken, was committed on the Exeter Road, between -Hounslow and Staines, early in the morning of March 18th. The gang had -already, on March 16th, impudently robbed the Windsor coach in broad -daylight, between Cranford and Hounslow, and actually in sight of about -a dozen gentlemen, well armed and mounted, who pursued them for five or -six miles before they were lost sight of. - -The country was thoroughly aroused, and the hue-and-cry out for them; -and it therefore argues great rashness, or impudence, that they should, -two days later, and in the same neighbourhood, rob other coaches. - -The gang engaged that day comprised James Slader, Walter Parkhurst, -John Williams, John White, and Francis Jackson. After robbing two -coaches in Bedfont Lane, supposing themselves observed by a gentleman's -servant out hunting in a green livery, they struck off across country -for Acton; the liveried servant hurrying after them. They then made -in the direction of Harrow-on-the-Hill, suspecting themselves pursued -all the way, but seeing no one until they reached that little town, -where they found forty or fifty men, ready to receive them with guns, -pitchforks, and all sorts of weapons. - -The inference at this point is that the gang had made much slower -progress across country than the hue-and-cry had done. - -Turning from this embattled front, they made their way down the hill -and at the bottom found "a great number" of horse and foot ready to -receive them. Although these horse and foot were so numerous, the -highwaymen, in their "Confession," claim to have compelled them to -fly into the houses for shelter; and so rode on to Paddington, and -thence to Kilburn and Hendon, and from Hendon to Hampstead Heath, hotly -engaged all the way. It was between ten and eleven o'clock in the -morning when they had reached Harrow, and six o'clock by the time they -were come upon Hampstead Heath, and the daylight was then fading out of -the March evening. Their powder and shot had nearly all been expended -about two o'clock, and some of their swords lost or broken, and most of -them sorely wounded or bruised. Prominent among the combatants in this -extraordinary running fight was a Lifeguardsman, "who fought with a -great deal of courage most part of that day." - -On Hampstead Heath there were two hundred men arrayed against these -five exhausted highwaymen, who stood at bay in the grim hollow road at -North End as night fell, and fought the contest out to the inevitable -end. They fought an hour there, some with swords, and others with -pistols. Slader, with a last shot, killed one Edward Kemp, and was then -himself mortally wounded; and Jackson ran one Henry Miller through the -left side with his rapier, so that he died immediately. - -[Illustration: THE FIGHT IN THE HOLLOW ROAD.] - -At last, overpowered, four of the defeated highwaymen were conveyed to -Newgate. Slader soon afterwards died of his many wounds, and the others -were found guilty on various counts at their trial at the Old Bailey -on April 10th and 11th, and hanged with remarkable despatch on the -15th; Jackson being gibbeted on the scene of that last stand, opposite -the spot now occupied by the house called "Wildwoods." - -His body long swung and gyrated in the wind, suspended there from a -beam stretched between two elms: the "Gibbet Elms," as they were long -known. One was blown down in 1850, and the other survived until so -recently as March 1907, when it, too, was uprooted in a storm. The -trunk, at this time of writing, still lies on the ground. - -This, then, is the short story of Jackson's life. Let us now see of -what his "Recantation" consists. It affords curious reading, but cannot -be more than paraphrased here. It is, however, in spite of its breadth -and freedom of language, extremely moral in its teaching. - -How vain, he moralises, are the thoughts of those who, while they -enjoy youth and strength, never consider they are mere statues of -dust, kneaded with tears and moved by the hidden engines of restless -passions; clods of earth, which the shortest fever can burn to ashes, -or a complication of miseries dissolve into nothingness! - -He had once thought himself one of Heaven's favourites, and had -persuaded himself that the machinations of his brain were able to -unhinge the poles. (Any reader conversant with twentieth-century slang -phrases will at this point consider the youthful seventeenth-century -Jackson himself at that time "up the pole.") - -But Heaven, continued Jackson, thought fit to deliver him into -the terrestrial hell of the condemned cell at Newgate, where, in -imagination surrounded by the howls and hollow groans of damned souls, -conscience started out of her dead sleep, and he was thrown into the -greatest agony imaginable. At this time a charitable physician for his -sin-sick soul came to visit him, and to that pious man he laid open the -whole course of his life, much to his amazement and wonder. This wonder -was soon changed to pity and commiseration that one so young should be -thus weeded out of the world just as he had entered into the blooming -springtime of his age. He then acquainted him with the benefit of true -repentance, so that the obduracy of his heart was able to hold out no -longer, and, melting into tears, he was willing to have its flintiness -broken by the hammer of sacred Scripture. - -Then, to give the holy man some real testimony of his unfeigned -repentance, he produced an abstract of his life, which, he tells us, he -had prepared before his apprehension, intending to have published it -and then to have abandoned his evil courses. But a reformed highwayman -was so very rare a thing, if even not altogether so unheard-of a -curiosity, that we may take leave to doubt that detail. He probably -wrote his life in prison, and there occasionally peep out such -tell-tale passages of real enjoyment in the telling of his misdeeds, -that the flowery moral passages wear a strong suspicion of insincerity. - -The "holy man" of the foregoing remarks was apparently none other -than the Ordinary of Newgate, the Reverend Samuel Smith, for the -"Recantation" is followed by a postscript, signed "S. S.," which says: -"Reader, let me assure thee this is no fiction, but a true relation -of Mr. Jackson's life and conversation. Penned by his own hand, and -delivered unto mine to be made public for his countrymen's good, in -compensation of the many injuries he hath done them. The introduction -he made in Newgate, after sentence of condemnation, and desired me -to apologise for it, fearing he had neither wrote large enough for -his true penitence, nor had laid down sufficient exhortations from -the commission of the like offences; the disorder he was in, lying -under the horror of a speedy and more than common execution, may -plead his excuse: the plainness of his style may admit of this plea, -that he aimed at (as he confessed to me) nothing but the good of his -countrymen, and that as he had picked their pockets, he thought it -needless to tickle their ears with the gilded straws of rhetorical -expressions. God, I hope, hath forgiven him his sins, and may we all -amend by his errors, for which he now hangs in chains at Hamstead, -a sad and dreadful spectacle to all beholders, and hoping you will -pass by the faults of his writing and the press, I subscribe myself a -well-willer to all." - - "S. S." - - -Jackson's own method of telling his story is of the parabolic moral -kind, in which the facts lie hidden amid a mass of verbiage. He said -little of his parents, except that they were too indulgent to him, -supplying his youthful extravagances with so much money that he was -often puzzled to find ways to spend it. As a result, these prodigal -parents impoverished themselves, and then died, and their hopeful -son had already so distinguished himself by his wild and extravagant -courses, that none of his relatives would help, and refused even to see -him. He at once sank from plenty into poverty and rags, his backside -hung in tatters, and his coat had as many holes as a colander. - -Although so miserable an object, no one would help him. He thought -himself unfit for one of the plantations, and such a scarecrow that not -even a kidnapper would take any notice of him. - -At last, walking the streets of London in this miserable condition, he -found a purse lying in the street. Trembling with excitement at his -good fortune, he hastily slipped it into his pocket, forgetting that -all his pockets were so full of holes, that they would contain nothing. -It fell to the ground again, but he snatched it up, and hurried with -beating heart into the fields, and there found the purse contained ten -pounds in silver, and fifty guineas. He cautiously buried all this -money but fifty shillings in the hedgeside, and then went and bought an -ordinary ready-made suit of clothes, being afraid to at once purchase -better, in case awkward questions might be asked, as to how so shabby a -wretch became possessed of such means. - -Thus decently attired, he thought he might venture to remove from the -squalid lodging he occupied, and, taking rooms at a cautious distance, -he gave out that he was the son of a country gentleman, come to London -on law business. For a time he lived quietly, but growing discontented -with the dulness of his quiet life, went and bespoke a fine suit -of clothes and all necessary appurtenances befitting a person of -quality, such as a silver-hilted sword, etc., saying he had received a -considerable sum of money on account of the affairs that had brought -him to town. - -Being thus gallantly equipped, he soon made acquaintances, who were -intimately versed in the ways of town, but more especially in cards and -dice, at which they laboured with greater pains than a seven-years' -student with the classics. With one of these he established a close -friendship; and this new-found friend, undertaking to be his tutor in -gambling and sharping, he was soon on the direct way to becoming a -rogue, fully equipped in all the arts and subterfuges of those who live -on their wits. At playhouses, ordinaries, cockpits, and bowling-greens, -he was soon on the track of dupes whose pockets were to be dipped into, -and he tells us how his tackling was so good and his hooks so well -barbed that, after he had struck a gudgeon, he was sure to hold him, -though he suffered him to play a little in the stream. - -When at any time they fell into the company of any young country -gentleman, sent up by his father to learn something of the polished -ways of London, they fastened themselves upon him, introduced him into -the fast life of town, and in the end plundered him and used his credit -to obtain goods from confiding tradespeople. These two associates -shared their fortunes in this manner for a year, varying their evil -practices by now and then robbing a coach. They were unlucky enough to -be several times flung into gaol and Jackson came near to losing his -life for robbing a coach near Barnet; but he was fortunate in being -able to get in touch with the person whom he had robbed, and to appease -him by restoring the greater part of what he had taken, on condition -that he should bring no evidence against him. He was accordingly -acquitted. So easy was it, he says, to buy acquittals that it had -become a proverbial saying that no man, unless he had committed treason -or murder, need be hanged while he had five hundred pounds at command. - -Soon after he was so triumphantly enlarged from prison his companion -died, leaving behind him little but his wench, whom he bequeathed, -enjoining him to have a special care of her whom he had so highly -prized. It was a pity, continues Jackson, she was a whore, for he might -impartially declare her beauty to be scarcely paralleled. - -To supply her extravagances was a difficult matter, and he grew so -busy at rooking people in the coffee-houses that his face became too -well known, and folk fought shy of him. He accordingly bethought him -of a way of noting those who had won heavily, and then following them -in the dark and robbing them. Although this was for some time a highly -remunerative plan, it also was worn threadbare, all too soon, and he -was now such a marked man that he was obliged, like a bat, never to -stir abroad until dusk; except with the greatest caution imaginable. -His woman, seeing what straits he was put to, deserted him. - -He then met with three or four old acquaintances, knights of the road, -with whom he adjourned to a tavern. They asked him how he had spent his -time since his first gaol-delivery, and when he told them, declared no -bold, generous soul would stoop to such petty pilfering. They condemned -him further, not for keeping his woman, but for not keeping her more -under. "It is laudable," said one, "to have a Miss, even though he had -a very handsome wife of his own, and it is agreeable to the custom and -honour of the times, and if we were to throw any opprobrium upon it, it -would reflect upon ourselves." - -"Come," said another, "we trifle away time. Let us fall to business. It -is a good while since we shared a booty: let us no longer lie idle, and -if our brother will accompany us, instead of picking up here and there -crowns and angels—a thing beneath us—let us resolve to 'Have at all.' A -five hours' adventure may make us possessors of five hundred pounds." - -He told them he was not provided with a horse and other things -necessary, but they promised to supply him, and soon did so, and he was -then as well-equipped as any. - -Four of them then set out for Maidenhead, reconnoitring for plunder. -At Maidenhead they dined, and then, in the summer afternoon, went on -towards Reading, halting an hour or so at Maidenhead Thicket, expecting -some prize; but to no purpose. They then planned to distribute -themselves and to ride into Reading singly: two to lie at one inn, and -two at another. - -Jackson's other two comrades lay at an inn where they were well known, -and their occupation winked at by host and servants; who gave them to -understand that there was a gentleman in the house, who, with his man, -would next morning set out for Marlborough. It was thought, they added, -by the weight of his small portmanteau, that it must be filled with -money. - -Jackson and one other found an attorney at the inn of their choice, who -said he was on his way to London, for the opening of term. He asked the -landlord if he could serve him in any way in London. - -"I am sorry I have not the happiness to have your company to-morrow," -said Jackson; "I have to go a contrary way, to Bristol." - -"You seem a civil gentleman," returned the attorney, "and I am -sorry too. Have a care as you go by Marlborough Downs: a parcel of -whipper-snappers have been very busy there of late." - -Jackson affected to be very much concerned at this news, and the -attorney, noticing his apparent alarm, told him if he carried any -considerable sum he must conceal it, or he would certainly lose all. - -Jackson then pretended to thank him coldly, as if suspecting him of -being some subtle insinuating spy; whereupon, the lawyer, to prove -his own good faith, put his hand in his pocket and drew out a bag -containing a hundred and fifty guineas. "These," said he, "I will so -conceal in the saddle I ride upon that I will defy all the damned -highwaymen in England to find them out. I have passed them several -times in this manner, with good sums about me, and, for your further -belief, I will show you in what way." - -He then exhibited his hiding-place in the saddle, for which Jackson -thanked him more genuinely than he suspected. - -At that moment there came a note from his confederates at the other -inn, to meet them at a certain place, and so, pretending he had -business in the town, he left, and, meeting them, arranged that he and -his fellow should change places with the other couple: that he should -go forward and rob the traveller bound for Marlborough, while the -others should turn about and relieve the attorney journeying to London. - -The cunning scheme was neatly performed; but Jackson and his associate -did not come off quite so well, the Marlborough traveller and his man -making a stout resistance. Jackson was shot in the arm, and had the -gentleman's horse not then been shot dead, they had very likely been -taken prisoners. As it was, they captured a hundred and twenty guineas. - -The next adventure entailed a great deal of work, and they were -shamefully robbed of all their spoils, at the end of it, to the tune of -over £180. - -Hearing that a ship was to be paid off at Chatham on such a day, and -well aware that the sailors would then be coming, post-haste, to -London, to spend their money, they went to Shooter's Hill and hovered -about there until evening, with very poor results. Next day they picked -up a great many stragglers, and robbed them of their all; but always -avoiding groups of travellers. A parson with very shabby clothes, and -riding a sorry horse, then came on the hill. He looked so poor that -they judged him to be worth hardly an attorney's retaining-fee; but, -with time hanging heavy on their hands, they thought to have some sport -with him, and stopped him and began to search his pockets for fun. -But when he roared out, like a town bull, that he was undone, they -suspected he carried more than they had thought, and searched more -thoroughly; with the result that his pockets yielded fifteen pounds. - -They were good enough to return him twenty shillings, on his swearing -he would not set the hue-and-cry upon them, or inform any person he -might meet upon the road, and then let him proceed; but it so chanced -that he fell in with a sailor and advised him, if he had any money -about him, to turn back, for there was a parcel of rogues up yonder on -the hill who had but now robbed him and would do the like to any one -else. - -The sailor, however, would not believe the parson, or thought himself a -match for any highwaymen he was likely to meet, and so continued on his -way. Presently he was bidden "Stand!" - -"What do you want?" he asked. - -"What do we want?" we in imagination hear those highwaymen repeating, -in tones of contempt: "what do you think we want, you——, * * *, you: -to ask after your health, or to know the time o' day? No, we want your -money." - -"Alas! gentlemen," said the sailor, "it is true I have some, which I -received for my pay in His Majesty's service. It is a pity to take that -from me which I am carrying home for the maintenance of my wife and -children." - -But if he had engaged an angel to plead for him it would have been -useless, for they would have had his money, anyway; and so, seeing -there was no remedy, he delivered all he had, which was sixty-five -pounds. - -"Now, gentlemen," said he, "let me beg one favour of you, and that is, -as I dare not go home to my wife with empty pockets, and at present -know not what course to steer, pray admit me into your company. You see -I am strong-limbed, and I have courage enough to qualify me for your -occupation." - -They asked if he were in earnest, and he swore a hundred sailor oaths -that he was, and ready to be put to the proof that instant: declaring -himself to be greatly in love with a trade that could in six minutes -get as much money as he could in three years. - -Jackson was at that time treasurer, and was given charge of the day's -takings; and then, finding they had done sufficient for the day, they -agreed to separate, and to meet at a given rendezvous the next day. -Jackson was also detailed to take charge of the new recruit, who was -wretchedly mounted. As they rode along, he bound the sailor, over and -over again, by many oaths, to stand to his new resolution. At length, -in a solitary lane, while Jackson was innocently discoursing upon the -new life that lay before him, the sailor pulled his miserable horse -suddenly against the other, and, as suddenly drawing a pistol and -seizing his companion's bridle, clapped the ugly brass-barrelled weapon -against his breast, and swore as bloodily as if he had been one of the -trade for more than twenty years that he would send a bullet into his -heart if he did not instantly dismount. - -Jackson saw by his companion's frightful countenance that there was -no dallying possible, so he dismounted and was obliged to give up his -horse in exchange for the sorry nag that was hardly able to carry him, -and, in addition, to hand over all the day's takings of the fraternity. - -"Should I enumerate all the rogueries and robberies I committed," -continues our autobiographer, "either singly, or with others, relating -in what manner they were done, I should waste too much time, and miss -that design which I purposed to myself, which is the general good of -my countrymen; wherefore I shall pass them all by, not so much as -mentioning the last robbery I was guilty of, near Colnbrook, when -pursued by the country, opposed and apprehended by them, to the loss -of our own, and the blood of some of them, the manner whereof is too -generally known to be again repeated." - -That is exceedingly disappointing: for what was then "generally known" -is now almost forgotten, and only to be recovered with much trouble. - -He then, omitting all reference to the killing for which he was hanged -and gibbeted, proceeds to enlarge upon the ways, manners, and customs -of the highwaymen, "those devouring caterpillars of a corrupt and -polluted nation," as he styles them. - -"I shall insist upon what is more profitable," he declares, "and -discover, first, what a highwayman is; how bound by oath; what order -is prescribed; in what manner they assault; and how they behave -themselves, in and after the action. In the next place my best -endeavour shall be to dissuade these desperadoes to desist robbing on -the highway, by showing them the certainty of their apprehension one -time or other; and though they may a long time prosper in that vile -course of life, spending high and faring deliciously, yet every bit is -attended with fear; neither is their sleep less unquiet, starting ever -and anon by some horrid dream; so that I cannot say when they go to bed -they go to take their rest, but only to slumber out the tedious minutes -of the gloomy night in horror and affrightment. I shall insist on -other dissuasions, by showing them the misery of a prison; by putting -them in mind of their wretched and cursed ends, which they vainly jest -at, by presuming on some examples of grace; and the reward of their -wickedness in the world to come. Lastly, instructions, not only for the -honest traveller that he may pass in safety, but for the innkeeper to -distinguish highwaymen from guests that are honest; all these I shall -with sincerity run over particularly." - -"Highwaymen for the most part are such that were never acquainted with -an honest trade, whom either want of money or employment prompted them -to undertake these dangerous designs; and to make their persons appear -more formidable, and to gain respect, they dub one another 'colonel,' -'major,' or at least a captain, who never arrived to a greater height -than a trooper disbanded, or at the utmost a lifeguards-man cashiered -for misdemeanour. - -"Having made up a party, ere they proceed to act their villainies, they -make a solemn vow to each other, that, if by misfortune any one should -be apprehended, he shall not discover his complices: and that if he -be pressed hard to particularise his companions, he must then devise -names for men that never were, describing their persons, features, and -discovering their habitations, but so remote one from another, that the -danger of the trial may be over ere sufficient inquiry can be made. - -"And further, to procure mercy from the bench, there must be a -plausible account given, how you fell into this course of life: -fetching a deep sigh, saying that you were well born, but by reason -of your family falling to decay you were exposed to great want, and -rather than shamefully beg (for you knew not how to labour), you were -constrained to take this course as a subsistence; that it is your first -fault, which you are heartily sorry for, and will never attempt the -like again. - -"Having taken a solemn oath to be true one to another, their next -business is to acquaint themselves, by means of the tapsters, ostlers, -chamberlains, or others, what booties are stirring, how contained, -and whither bound. But before they attempt the seizure, if there be -any novices in the company, then they are instructed by the more -experienced, as I was at first, after this manner. - -"In the first place, you must have a variety of periwigs in your -lodgings, and the like you must carry with you, if occasion require -the necessity of changing the colour of the hair: neither must you be -without your false beards of several colours. For want of them, you may -cross your locks athwart your mouth, which is a good disguise: patches -also contribute much thereto. And lest your voice should be known -another time by him that is robbed, put into your mouth a pebble, or -any suchlike thing, which will alter your tone advantageously to your -purpose. - -"Being thus provided, a watchword must be framed, wrapped up in some -common question, as 'What's o'clock?' or 'Jack, what shall we have -for supper?' As soon as these words are used, you must instantly fall -to work, seizing with your left hand the traveller's bridle, and with -your right presenting a pistol. This so terrifies that he delivers -instantly, for who will trust a pistol at his breast loaded with a -brace of bullets, and a mouth discharging at the same time volleys of -oaths, that if he deliver not instantly he is a dead man? But here -you may please yourself whether you believe him, for a highwayman -will be very cautious of murder, for fear of provoking the law to an -implacability, unless it be when he is beset, when, rather than run the -risk of being seized, he will endeavour to escape by killing one or -more of his assailants. - -"Having o'ermastered them you set upon, do you carry them into some -covert, where you search so severely that nothing can be hidden from -you. If in this strict enquiry, gold be found privily quilted in a -doublet, or in the waistband of his breeches, I can hardly forbear -smiling when I think in what manner the rogues will rate the poor man -with 'villain,' or 'cheating rascal,' for endeavouring to preserve -his own, whilst he has nothing else to say but that he is 'undone,' -which they regard as little as the hangman will them at the place of -execution. Having then changed your horse for theirs, if better than -your own, the next thing to do is to make them swear neither to follow -you, nor to raise the country with a hue-and-cry upon you. Thus, -leaving the poor traveller forlorn, you ride to some strange place, or -else where you are known and winked at, and there you share that which -you unlawfully have got, not without cheating one another. - -"Now here, by the way, give me leave to descant on their prodigality, -after a successful attempt. London, the more is the pity, is their -best sanctuary, and therefore, after any robbery, they commonly repair -thither; having as many names as lodgings. Their next care is to buy -a variety of splendid apparel, and, having bought their wenches new -gowns, and furnished their pockets with guineas, they then prosecute -all manner of debaucheries. Their hosts must also participate in their -gains, else all the fat's in the fire; for the vintners, innkeepers, -etc., knowing very well what they are, and how easily they get their -money, will be sure to enlarge their reckoning and make it swell -prodigiously; neither must this be complained of, lest they refuse to -keep their own counsel any longer. - -"All the time they can spare from robbing and undoing poor men is spent -in wine and women; so that the sunshine of their prosperity lasts but -a moment, not so long as to warm their hands by the blazing fire of -their prodigality, before cold death comes and seizeth them. And how -can it be otherwise expected? the pitcher goes not so often to the well -but it comes broken home at last. - -"But before death takes them from this, to carry them before a higher -tribunal, there to answer for all they have enacted here on earth, -there is a punishment preceding this: it is a prison wherein are -contained so many tortures, woes, and pains that I do think were enough -to punish, without death, the greatest of offences. - -"Having thus endeavoured to fright highwaymen, by showing them -the intolerable torments of a prison, besides the certainty and -shamefulness of hanging, and hazard of eternal death hereafter, I shall -here take another course to scare them, if possible, and therefore in -the first place I shall lay down directions how to know them as they -ride on the road, with rules how to shun them, or, if robbed, how to -pursue and apprehend them when they think themselves most secure. - -"In the first place, when at any time you intend to travel, and cannot -avoid carrying a sum of money with you, let no person know what charge -you have, or when you will set forward. It is the custom, I confess -(but let me assure you, it is dangerous), for men the day before they -begin their journey, to take leave of their relations and friends, -drinking healths round to the happy return of the traveller, who -suspects not the least harm in all this; whereas, it hath been known -that a father hath this way been betrayed by his own son; a brother by -a brother; nay, one pretendedly dear friend by another, by discovering -to highwaymen when and which way he rides; and so for the plot he goes -his share. - -"Another way they have. The gang shall ride in advance, out of sight, -leaving one lusty fellow of their company behind, who shall ride very -slowly, expecting some one or other will overtake him. If overtaken by -three or four, he will single out the one he thinks hath most money; -and, pretending much friendliness, will whisper, he likes not those -other men, and ask if he knows them. If not, he adviseth him to slacken -his pace, for certainly they are dangerous fellows. The timorous -and credulous traveller will thank him for his advice; and not long -afterwards, by parting company with honest men, he will be brought -alone to the place where the confederates lie in ambuscade. The decoy -will then draw his weapon, bidding the traveller do the like, and now -begins a dangerous fight, as the traveller imagines. Fearing bloodshed, -he delivers his money, and persuades his champion to do the like, who, -with much ado, at length condescends thereunto. The gang, having given -him a private indication of the way they intend to ride, then set spurs -to their horses, and are out of sight in an instant. - -"Hereupon, this pretender to honesty will straight persuade you to -assist him in making a hue-and-cry, in the carrying on of which he -will seemingly be foremost, but to no other end than to lead you -quite another way, till his brethren be out of all danger. I knew -one notorious rogue, who by his sly and crafty deportment was looked -upon to be a very honest gentleman, who suffered himself to be robbed -with three more, by his own confederates. The robbery being committed -between sun and sun, he, with those three honest men, sued the county, -and recovered the money they had lost. - -"Whensoever the traveller designs a journey, let him consider that -the Sabbath day is a time not only unlawful, but more dangerous for -robbing than any other. I need not expatiate on the illegality of the -act, since there is a special command forbidding the breach of that -holy day of rest, the violation whereof hath been frequently punished -by being robbed; for, to speak the truth, that day hath been, and still -is, chosen by highwaymen for the best and fittest time to commit their -robberies; first because they are sensible that few travel then, except -those who ride on some important concern, and who they suppose carry a -considerable sum about them. - -"In the next place, on that day the roads are most quiet, being -undisturbed with great quantities of people, and therefore they rob -with more ease and greater security. Lastly, they know the county will -not be so forward to pursue them with a hue-and-cry, and are quite -convinced that a judge will hardly be induced to make the county pay -the reparation of a loss sustained by him who ought to have stayed at -home, to perform those duties required from him, proper to the day; and -not wander abroad and leave his Creator's business undone, that he may -do his own. If you must needs travel, you have days enough in the week -to follow your urgent and important affairs, and with more security, -the roads being then full of good company, if you will but make choice -of a convenient time, and be cautious whom you entertain into your -society. - -"The first caution is this: be shy of those who are ever prone of -pressing into your company. It is more safe to entertain such as -are unwilling to associate themselves with you. Now, that you may -distinguish an honest man from a thief, take these informations and -directions: first, if you suspect your company, halt a little, and in -your halting observe whether they still hold on their course, or slack -their pace, or, it may be, alight and walk with their horses in their -hands. If you observe any of these, you may conclude them the justly -suspected marks of a highwayman." - -Travellers were also warned of men dressed like countrymen, with -hay-bands round their legs, and rough, russet clothes, who might -perhaps even carry a goad instead of a whip, as they rode on horseback. -These were often merely highwaymen in disguise, and although they might -affect a country brogue and ask silly questions, they were to be -suspected. In fact, it appears that every one was to be eyed askance; -and it seems likely that, with this advice duly digested, over-cautious -or nervous travellers occasionally turned upon quite innocent and -inoffensive people and shot them in mere squittering terror. - -"It is now high time," continues Jackson, "to inform the innkeeper how -he shall distinguish highwaymen from honest travellers. In the first -place, observe their curiosity about their horses, in dressing and -feeding them: next you will find them asking questions; such as, "Who -owns that horse?" and who the other; what their masters are; whither -travelling; and when they will set out. These are infallible signs of -a highwayman. Nor must I omit this remark: let the ostler lift their -cloak-bags, and he will find them empty; for they carry them only for -show, and not to burden their horses. - -"Next, let the chamberlain take notice when he shows them to a room, -that they will soon dismiss him, and after that, let him listen awhile -and he shall hear the jingling of money; and if he can but get a -peep-hole for his eyes, he shall see them sharing their booty. - -"It will be very requisite to enquire severally each one's particular -name, and let your servants do the like. By this means you will find -them tripping, for they may easily forget a name they borrowed that -very day. - -"At supper-time let some one knock furiously and hastily at the gate; -then mark them well, and you shall see them start, their countenances -change, and nothing but fear and amazement appearing on each face; by -which you may positively conclude them to be what you did before but -imagine and suspect. - -"If in the day-time they come into your inn, you may guess what they -are by their trifling away their time, and staying somewhat longer than -is necessary for baiting. You shall observe them sometimes looking out -of the window, sometimes standing at the gate, for no other purpose but -to mark what passengers ride by. If they see any person of quality ride -that way, or the costume hints at the likelihood of a booty, you shall -have them to horse and mount in all haste, as if some dear friend or -near relation was just rid by, whom they must endeavour to overtake. - -"At night they will come dropping into an inn severally, in divided -companies, thereby to falsify the number given in the hue-and-cry; and -will, when met, artfully take no notice of one another; nay, they will -even, to allay suspicion, enquire of the host what 'country gentleman' -their own companions are; whether he knows them or not, and if it be -convenient to join in company with them. They will, like strangers, -while they are under observation, compliment one another; but withdraw, -and watch them well, and you shall find them fall into their usual -familiarity. - -"Much more might be written on this subject, but since it is impossible -to discover the whole art and mystery of the highway trade, let this -suffice; for, according to the proverb, new lords, new laws; so all new -gangs have new orders, plots and designs, to rob and purloin from the -honest traveller." - - - - -CAPTAIN RICHARD DUDLEY - - -Richard Dudley, born in 1635, was, says Alexander Smith, "a gentleman -of old descent in Northamptonshire." His father, a man of considerable -estate in that shire of squires, spires, pride, and poverty, was ruined -in the war between King and Parliament, and his son Robert was glad to -accept the help that Charles the Second gave him, in presenting him -with a commission in a foot regiment that was presently ordered to -Tangier. It was a poor return for the loyalty in which his father was -brought so low. - -Captain Dudley soon earned the reputation of a martinet with his -regiment; and perhaps something over and above that, if the story -of his horrible treatment of a soldier on parade be true. It seems -that one of the men stood a little in advance of his comrades as they -were drawn up on the parade-ground, and this annoyed our Captain, who -desired a sergeant to knock him down. The sergeant was not so violent -about it as Dudley wished, and, in a fury he exclaimed, "When I command -you to knock a man down, knock him down thus." Suiting the action to -the word, he snatched the sergeant's halberd, and, striking the man -on the head with it, cleft his skull in two; "of which," adds Smith, -rather unnecessarily, "he immediately died." - -We are not surprised, after this, to learn that Dudley's military -career was not successful, and that it shortly came to an end. -Returning to England, his unbridled extravagance left him no choice -but to work or take to the road; and what gentleman of the merry and -inglorious reign of Charles the Second would hesitate a moment in such -a pass, before choosing the road as the better and more gentlemanly -way? Work! Perish the thought! - -[Illustration: CAPTAIN DUDLEY ON HOUNSLOW HEATH.] - -So he resorted to Hounslow Heath, where he robbed the Duke of Monmouth, -and was captured in so doing and was conveyed to the prison then called -the Poultry Compter, from which mansion of sorrow and tribulation he -broke out; and, resuming the road, met the Earl of Rochester coming -from his seat at Woodstock, accompanied by his chaplain, two footmen, -and a groom. The association of the riotous Earl of Rochester, the -wittiest and most dissolute nobleman of the age, with a chaplain is a -distinctly humorous touch. Dudley robbed my lord of a hundred guineas. -What the footman and the groom—to say nothing of the chaplain—were -doing while he committed the robbery, we do not learn. They appear, for -all we know to the contrary, to have looked on. But the chaplain, at -any rate, improved the occasion by soundly rating him. "I don't think I -commit any sin in robbing a person of quality," said Dudley, "because -I keep generally pretty close to the text, 'Feed the hungry, and -send the rich empty away.'" To which Captain Alexander Smith, Dudley's -biographer, adds, "This was pretty true in the main, for whenever -he had got any considerable booty from great people, he would very -generously extend his charity to such whom he really knew to be poor." - -After this adventure, Dudley had the impudence to rob Captain -Richardson, the Governor of Newgate prison, whom he met on the road to -Tonbridge. He had already been in the Governor's clutches on three or -four occasions, and so felt a glow of satisfaction when he robbed him. -But he did not succeed in doing so without considerable trouble, and -the Governor told him pretty plainly that he would fare ill if ever he -came again within the walls of Newgate, which would not be long hence, -he suspected. - -Dudley had his ready answer. "I expect," he said, "no favour from the -hands of a gaoler, who comes of the race of those angels that fell with -Lucifer from Heaven, whither _you'll_ never return again. Of all your -bunches of keys, not one hath wards to open that door, for a gaoler's -soul stands not upon those two pillars that support Heaven: Justice -and Mercy. It rather sits upon those two footstools of Hell, Wrong -and Cruelty So"—changing his didactic manner for a more business-like -attitude—"make no more words about your purse, for have it I will, or -else your life." - -There was no help for it, and "Richardson was obliged to grant his -request, and between Dudley and taking the waters at Tonbridge, went -home as well purged and cleansed as a man could desire." - -Dudley often robbed, it appears, with Swiftnicks, but their joint -adventures are not recorded. With some other companions, he on one -occasion robbed a clergyman travelling on the Exeter Road, near Hartley -Row, but his pocket was not well-lined, and Dudley made him preach a -sermon in praise of thieving, swearing to shoot him if he did not. This -he performed with such humour and eloquence that Dudley assured him Old -Nick would certainly soon make him Archbishop: "Meanwhile," said he, -"here is your money back, and if you will take up a collection, my fine -fellows here shall contribute to it." - -[Illustration: CAPTAIN DUDLEY AND THE CLERGYMAN.] - -It may, however, be suspected that the congregation of "fine fellows" -were not quite so satisfied with the sermon as their Captain, or -perhaps did not appreciate their leader's humour; for the collection -when taken up did not amount to more than four shillings. It was not a -profitable day for the band. - -The accounts, given severally by Smith and Johnson, of Dudley's -adventures differ very widely. According to Johnson, Dudley's earliest -effort was in a different line altogether, and was a burglary committed -at Blackheath, where he broke into a house and carried off a large -quantity of plate. The story well illustrates the peculiar ideas of -honesty these seventeenth-century scoundrels pretended to hold. It -seems he had sold most of the plate he had taken at Blackheath to a -refiner, but was shortly afterwards apprehended and committed to -Newgate. While there, he sent for the refiner who had bought of him, -and angrily reproached him. "It is a hard thing," he said, "to find -an honest man or a fair dealer. You cursed rogue, there was, among -the plate you bought of me, a cup with a cover. You told me it was -only silver-gilt, and bought it at the same price with the rest; but -it plainly appears, by the advertisement in the _Gazette_, that it -was a gold cup and cover. I see you are a rogue, and that there is no -trusting anybody." - -After robbing General Monk, under impudent circumstances, Dudley found -his native land dangerous, and so crossed the Channel, and by easy -stages traversed France and arrived at Rome, where he appeared in the -garb of a pilgrim. He afterwards travelled to Jerusalem and returned to -Rome, and endeavoured to obtain audience of the Pope. - -But His Holiness would not receive him, said the Cardinal he -approached, unless he came with a relic. Dudley then procured a very -singular one, cut from the dead body of a criminal who had just been -executed, and, returning to the Vatican, pretended he had come with -no less a relic than the beard of St. Peter, which he said he had -purchased at a great price from the fathers at the Holy Sepulchre. The -Cardinal to whom he first showed the "relic" admired it, said that, if -true, it was a jewel worth a kingdom, and admitted Dudley to audience -with the Pope, who, kissing the object, said they had the skull of St. -Peter already, but he had no idea his beard was preserved. What he -could not understand, however, was why there should be so much hair on -one side, and so little on the other. - -"Oh," said our sham pilgrim, "your Holiness well knows St. Peter was a -Jew by birth, and used to play much on the Jews' Harp, so that by often -rubbing and twanging it with his fingers, he rubbed off the hair from -the right side of his face." - -This explanation being deemed satisfactory, the "beard of St. -Peter"—that priceless relic—was purchased for one hundred ducats: a -bargain, and if the story be true, it is probably in the Vatican still. - -Soon after his return, Dudley met a Justice of the Peace on the road to -Horsham, and requested his purse. But the courageous magistrate made -a very stout resistance, and shot Dudley's horse under him, being, in -return, wounded in the arm. Obliged at last to surrender, his pockets -yielded twenty-eight guineas, a gold watch, and a silver tobacco-box. -Dudley, then securing his horse, said, "Since your Worship has -grievously broken the peace, in committing a most horrid and barbarous -murder on my prancer, which with my assistance was able to get his -living in any ground in England, I must make bold to take your horse, -by way of reprisal. However, I'll not be so uncivil as to let a man -of your character go home on foot. I'll make one Justice of the Peace -carry another." - -So, stepping into a field where an ass was grazing, he brought the -animal into the road, and seated the Justice on his back, tying his -legs under. - -"I know I offend against the laws of heraldry," he said, "in putting -metal upon metal, but as there is no general rule without an exception, -I doubt not but all the heralds will excuse this solecism committed -in their art, which I look upon to be as great a bite and cheat as -astrology." - -He then whipped up the animal, and it carried the magistrate into the -streets of Petworth, where his worship attracted as much attention as -though he had been a royal procession. - -At last, Dick Dudley, as he is familiarly styled by Alexander Smith, -attempting to rob the Duke of Lauderdale, as he was riding over -Hounslow Heath, was captured instead, and committed to Newgate. No -fewer than eighty indictments were preferred against him, and, being -found guilty on some of these, he was executed at Tyburn, February -22nd, 1681, aged forty-six. - -[Illustration: Pistol and Mask.] - - - - - PRINTED AND BOUND BY - HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD., - LONDON AND AYLESBURY. - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] See the _Exeter Road_, pp. 215-233. - -[2] Historians of Paddington and Bayswater contend that "Elms Lane," -existing until about 1840, adjoining Lancaster Gate, marked the spot: -so there is a choice of three "Elms." - -[3] Probably John Dudley, Duke of Norfolk, who was granted the old -hospital property in 1553. - -[4] See the _Manchester and Glasgow Road_, Vol. I., pp. 236-238. - -[5] His name at the Old Bailey trial was stated to be "John Bennet, -alias Freeman." - - - - - ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ - │ Transcriber's Note: │ - │ │ - │ Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. │ - │ │ - │ Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained. │ - │ │ - │ Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant │ - │ form was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed. │ - │ │ - │ Mid-paragraph illustrations have been moved between paragraphs │ - │ and some illustrations have been moved closer to the text that │ - │ references them. The List of Illustrations was changed │ - │ accordingly. │ - │ │ - │ [++] indicates a caption added by the transcriber. │ - │ │ - │ Italicized words are surrounded by underline characters, _like │ - │ this_. Words in bold characters are surrounded by equal signs, │ - │ =like this=. │ - │ │ - │ Footnotes were moved to the end of chapters and numbered in one │ - │ continuous sequence. │ - │ │ - │ Other corrections │ - │ p. 77: "... looking out of window..." changed to "...looking │ - │ out of a window..." │ - │ │ - │ p. 88: "...worthy the name..." changed to "...worthy of the │ - │ name..." │ - │ │ - │ p. 115: "...the usual broadstreet price..." changed to "...the │ - │ usual broadsheet price..." │ - └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Half-hours with The Highwaymen - Vol 1, by -Charles George Harper - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HIGHWAYMEN *** - -***** This file should be named 53111-0.txt or 53111-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/3/1/1/53111/ - -Produced by deaurider, Christian Boissonnas and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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