DICK TURPIN. 669 



but which was extinguished at last by the cord which tied the heroic 

 Turpin to the remorseless tree. It were a subject well worthy of inquiry, 

 to trace this decline and fall of the empire of the Tobymen, to its remoter 

 causes to ascertain the why and the wherefore, thr.t with so many half- 

 pay captains ; so many poor curates ; so many lieutenants, of both ser- 

 vices, without hopes of promotion ; so many penny-a-liners, and fashion- 

 able novelists ; so many damned dramatists, and damning critics ; so 

 many Edinburgh and Quarterly Reviewers ; so many detrimental brothers, 

 and younger sons ; when there are horses to be hired, pistols to be bor- 

 rowed, purses to be taken, and mails are as plentiful as partridges ; it were 

 worth serious investigation, we repeat, to ascertain why, with the best 

 material imaginable for a new race of highwaymen, we have none, not so 

 much as an amateur. Why do not some of these choice spirits quit the 

 salons of Pail-Mall, and take to the road ; the air of the heath is more 

 bracing and wholsome, we should conceive, than that of any " hell" what- 

 ever, and the chances of success incomparably greater? We throw out 

 this hint, without a doubt of seeing it followed up. Probably the solution 

 of our inquiry, may be, that the supply is greater than the demand ; that, 

 the present state of things, embryo highwaymen may be more abundant 

 than purses ; and then, have we not the horse patrol ? With such an 

 admirably-organized system of conservation, it is in vain to anticpate a 

 change. The highwaymen, we fear, like their Irish brothers, the Rapparees, 

 went out with the Tories. They were averse to Reform, and eschewed 

 Emancipation !" 



We dare scarcely contemplate tbe effect which the mischievous 

 counsel, combined with that gay, reckless enjoue of Turpin's life 

 and exploits, which Mr. Ainsworth has given, is calculated to pro- 

 duce. Lord Edward Thynne, whose whiskers are already quite of the 

 Turpin texture, need only indue his Melton boots, put his " pops in 

 pocket," mount his nag, and we should have the beau ideal of a high- 

 wayman. Tom Buncombe would do admirably for Tom King, and 

 D'Orsay is cut out for Du Val. He is the man for the flageolet, the 

 couranto, andjthe ladies ! 



What a splendid turn-out they might make from Crockford's on 

 some " shiny night," the pavement of St. James's flashing beneath 

 the tramp of their fierv chargers ! We could almost forgive the foray 

 for the fun of it ; but we would seriously advise our furtive advan- 

 turers not to extend their rambles at the onset beyond Hyde Park 

 Corner. Nobody expects to be stopped now, and we will assuredly 

 warrant them against resistance. Crocky might be eased of his 

 winnings in half the time his bank could be reduced, and Chesterfield 

 would find the game of High Toby easier to manage than the game 

 of French Hazard I 



As the character which Mr. Ainsworth has engrafted upon his story 

 differs materially from the general and received notion of Turpin, it 

 will be as well to separate the true from the false to weigh Dick as 

 he was in the balance and to see whether his merits or demerits kick 

 the beam whether he was worthy in reality of the immortality he 

 has acquired whether he was gay, generous, and jovial whether he 

 was averse to shedding blood whether (and this is really important) 

 his whiskers were exuberant and red and, lastly, whether or not he 

 actually rode to York in a single night. 



Of the latter we have no further proofs to offer than such as are 



