Chichester Rents (in Chancery-lane), a fellow seized
him by the collar, dragged him into a corner,
and, presenting a pistol, robbed him of his
money, watch, and great-coat. On the
gentleman's begging he would not take his
great-coat, alleging it was a very cold night, the
rascal replied, 'For that very reason I have the
more occasion for it!' The fellow was not under
the least timidity" (few of those highwaymen
were), "but whilst he was pulling off the coat,
repeated the words in the Beggar's Opera, 'A
lawyer's is an honest employment, so's mine;'
and then ran off, humming the tune, 'Thro' all
the employments of life,' &c. This is the second
robbery committed on the same spot last week;
the first of which was by two footpads." Neither
were those safe who trusted themselves to
hackney-coaches. Here is an agreeable way of
winding up an evening's entertainment: "Monday
night a coachman, who had taken up a fare
at Covent Garden playhouse and ordered to go to
Ratcliff-cross, was stopped near the gap on the
left hand to Stepney, by four fellows, who robbed
him of six shillings, and took from the passengers
about five pounds. Then taking the number of
the coach, which was five hundred and nine, they
bade him drive home. At his return he was again
stopped by them, but on his saying that his coach
was empty, they gave him back his own money, and
half-a-crown to drink their healths." An injunction
which the honest fellow did not fail, I presume,
to fulfil. Had such a thing as the International
Exhibition existed then, it would have
afforded rare hauls for the highwaymen:
"Early on Saturday morning, as a gentleman
was going out of town, he was stopped between
the turnpike and Hyde Park-gate, leading to
Knightsbridge, by a single highwayman, who
robbed him of fifteen guineas, and afterwards
rode off into Piccadilly." There, probably, he
lost the money at a gaming-house as quickly as he
acquired it. A mile or so farther down the same
road, occurred another meeting, not quite so
profitable to the interceptor: "On Friday
evening last, a gentleman and lady returning
from visiting a lady of great distinction at
Kensington Gore, were met by a highwayman; but
the coachman driving on, he" (the highwayman)
"flogged him very severely. In the interim,
another gentleman's coach coming up, the
highwayman thought proper to ride off, and the lash
of his whip twisting round one of the lamps of
the chariot, he was obliged to leave it behind
him." In the suburbs, in a general way,
nobody was safe: "On Sunday evening last,
between five and six o'clock, a gentleman returning
to London from Highgate, was robbed, at
the bottom of the hill, beyond Kentish Town,
by two highwaymen, of three guineas and
some silver, who rode off to town." Again:
"On Monday morning last only, a man was
stopped by a footpad, near the Fox-under-the-Hill,
between Camberwell and Dulwich, who
clapped a pistol to his breast, and robbed him of
a silver watch, four shillings, and some halfpence,
and then made off." When Mr. Morris, in Rob
Roy, sings a doleful ballad, showing how
   A knave well-worthy of a cord,
   Being arm'd with pistol and with sword,
   'Twixt Kensington and Brentford then
   Did boldly stop six honest men,
we smile at the poet's humorous invention.
But such occurrences were literally true. For
example: " On Tuesday last, the Norwich stage
was stopped in Epping Forest, by a single
highwayman, who robbed the passengers of six
guineas." Highway robbery prevailed in all
parts of the kingdom, but was rifest within a
radius of thirty miles round London, and that
for obvious reasons. In the classical
neighbourhood of Willesden such events were
constant: " Last Saturday afternoon," says the St.
James's Chronicle, " Mr. Tims, brewer, at
Edgeware, was robbed of his watch and money, by a
highwayman, well dressed, on Dollar's-hill, near
the six milestone on the Edgeware-road, in sight
of a waggon that was but a little way from the
place." Travelling on the south side of London
was equally dangerous: " Saturday, three
post-chaises were robbed on this side of Dartford by
three footpads, armed with pistols, and having
whips in their hands, who took from them a
considerable sum of money. The same fellows
were afterwards seen on Blackheath, riding
towards London." Of a great celebrity in the
"stand and deliver" line, appears the following
anecdote: "Some days ago, the flying
highwayman, known by the name of Campbell,
robbed the postilion of a gentleman at
Colebrook, from whom he took a guinea, three
shillings, and upwards of sixpence in copper:
he asked the lad how far he was to go, and was
answered a great way, and three turnpikes to pay,
upon which the highwayman returned him the
silver and copper, saying, ' You may tell, when
you get home, that the Flying Highwayman is
not taken as reported in London, and as a proof
of it, you may assure them that you met him
this evening;' and then bade him farewell."
The report alluded to by Captain Campbell—
they were " captains" all—originated in the
apprehension of one Samuel, or Walter, Harris,
who from having been a soldier in Burgoyne's
light horse, " where, it is supposed, he learnt
his dexterity in horsemanship," took to the
road as a more profitable occupation. When
tried at the Old Bailey, two indictments were
preferred against him, on both of which he
would have been acquitted but for the evidence
of a pawnbroker's man who swore to his identity,
when both the gentlemen whom he had robbed
declined to do so. Like most of the fraternity,
he had " Tyburn his full recompense at last,"
and his appearance at the foot of " the tree" is
described as that of " a good-looking young man
with an honest countenance." Fronti nulla
fides: " he made an ample confession of his
robberies."

All highway robberies were not, however,
perpetrated by the captains. Take the following,
which appears in the Annual Register for 1762,
under date Sept. 12th: "The Duke de Nivernois,
with the character of ambassador and
plenipotentiary from the court of France, arrived