392 



NOTES AND QUEKIES. 



[No. 263. 



insist also, that in these as in all other researches 

 after truth, the error is often on the side of far- 

 sought and recondite analogies,, to the neglect of 

 the superficial and more obvious. M. (2) 



THE NOTED WESTONS. 



(Vol. X., pp. 286. 354.) 



• The two Westons, Joseph and George, resided 

 at the Friars, Winchelsea, for some months in 

 the years 1781-2, under the assumed names of 

 William Johnson and Samuel Watson. They 

 made a great display, and, although Catholics, it 

 is stated that Joseph was actually appointed 

 churchwarden ; but other parts of the country 

 had the advantage of their presence. The Annual 

 Register calls them " two most notorious villains, 

 who for some years have defrauded the country 

 by various artful contrivances." They were at 

 length captured In Wardour Street, London, 

 March 17 ; and finally committed, April 17, 1782, 

 for robbing the Bath and Bristol mail between 

 Maidenhead and Hounslow, on the morning of 

 Jan. 29, 1781. On July 2 (the day before the 

 Sessions), they, with three other fellows, made 

 their escape from Newgate about eight o'clock, 

 having been aided by the wives of the Westons, 

 who left the gaol about half- past seven. George 

 however was retaken in Smithfield, and Joseph in 

 Cock Lane, by John Davis, a porter, who was 

 passing, and who was wounded in the cheek by 

 a pistol fired by Joseph. They were both ar- 

 raigned on July 6 for the mail robbery, and 

 acquitted : but were again tried and convicted on 

 the same day : George for forging an endorse- 

 ment on a Bank-post bill of " John Ward, at the 

 * Dun Horse,' in the borough or German town of 

 jSTorfolk ;" the bill having been sent from Bristol 

 on Jan. 27, 1781, by the mail, and passed to 

 William Lee, a haberdasher at Hackney : and 

 Joseph, under the Black Act, for firing the pistol 

 at Davis. They were identified as the Westons 

 by a witness from Draycott, Staffordshire, who 

 had known them from their birth as sons of a 

 farmer named George Weston. They were exe- 

 cuted at Tyburn on Sept, 3, 1782 : and the Gent. 

 Mag., p. 431., contains a full account of their 

 penitential behaviour at the execution, and the 

 proper way in which they received the consola- 

 tions of their faith. The Mag. had before (p. 353.) 

 described them as " two of the most artful villains 

 that have appeared at any time in this country, 

 and have robbed the country of an immense sum." 

 Wm. Dubrant Coopee. 



prehended and tried (1782) on the charge of rob- 

 bing the Bristol mail near Cranford Bridge, in 

 December, 1780; but the driver being dead, they 

 were for want of eyiden(!e acquitted. 



George Weston was then tried separately for a 

 forgery : the indictment charging him with hav- 

 ing forged the name of John Ward, of the " Dun 

 Horse," in the borough, on a Bank-post bill. He 

 was found guilty, and sentenced to death. 



Joseph Watson was next indicted under the 

 9 Geo. I. c. 22., usually called the " Waltham 

 Black Act," for shooting at a man with a pistol; 

 and the evidence given was as follows : 



" John Owen, one of the turnkeys of Newgate, swore 

 that the prisoner, his brother George, and one Lupierre, 

 forced out of the prison ; and he pursued and called ' Stop 

 thief ! ' John Davis, in Cock Lane, endeavoured to stop 

 the prisoner, who threatened to shoot him ; and discharged 

 a pistol, wliich wounded him in the neck as he turned his 

 head aside to avoid it. Pie held Weston, however, until 

 he was secured," &c. 



The jury found him guilty, and sentence of death 

 was passed. Since the robbery of the mail, both 

 the brothers had lived in various parts of the 

 country in great style and elegance, having ser- 

 vants in livery, horses, &c. ; and were considered 

 by their neighbours to be men of fortune. They 

 were executed at Tyburn with four other " unfor- 

 tunate malefactors." 



There is a whole-length print of them taken, 

 from the life, and engraved by E. D. Archery, 

 1782; and also two half-lengths, published by 

 W. Turner, Snow Hill, London, Aug. 8, 1782. 



T. H. W. 



Your correspondent T. G. L. is mistaken as to 

 the offence for which Joseph Weston was executed. 

 The two brothers, Joseph and George, were ap- 



Pedigree to the Time of Alfred (Vol. ix. pas- 

 sim). — An Interesting sketch of the Wapshott 

 family may be found in Mrs. C. Hall's Pilgrimage 

 to English Shrines, art. " Chertsey and its Neigh- 

 bourhood." T. Hughes. 



Chester. 



" Emsdorff's Fame " (Vol. x., p. 103.). — This 

 song will be found in the Vocal Library/, p. 352,, 

 No. 323., published by Sir E,. Phillips & Co. in 

 the year 1821, and is there stated to be written 

 by Captain James, who appears to have composed 

 several other military songs. Agmond. 



Louis de Beaufort (Vol. x., p. 101.). —Your 

 correspondent L., referring to Louis de Beaufort's 

 work, Dissertation sur Vincertitiide des cinq pre- 

 miers siecles de Thistoire romaine, mentions a se- 

 cond edition of It as having been published at the 

 Hague in 1750; and says he has never been able 

 to see a copy of that second edition. It would 

 seem, however, from Querard's France Litteraire, 

 vol. i. p. 236., that the second edition was pub- 

 lished at Utrecht- in 1752, two vols. In 12mo. 



