276 ANECDOTE OF A HIGHWAYMAN. 



utes met the gentleman's carriage. Requesting the driver to 

 slop, he advanced to the door, without any appearance of vio- 

 lence, and, in a gentle tone of voice, thus addressed the person 

 who was in it : " Sir, the urgency of my wants must be an 

 apology for this abrupt application : myself, my wife, and an in- 

 fant family, are in want of support, our accustomed resources have 

 vanished ; you are plentifully supplied with the means, have you 

 the inclination effectually to serve me ?" 



The gentleman considering what he had said as the common- 

 place cant of medicant imposture, by which the hearts of the 

 frequenters of London are so naturally, but too indiscriminately 

 hardened, sometimes against the wailings of real misery, yet not 

 able wholly to suppress those feelings which an indiscriminate 

 address had awakened, twisted all his loose silver into a paper, 

 gave it to the petitioner, and ordered the post-boy to drive on. 

 "This trifle, I am sorry to say,** replied the illicit collector, 

 "is by no means adequate to the pressure I feel, it will not 

 provide for my family a week. A fifty-pound bank note, which 

 will not be missed in your abundance, would remove all my 

 difficulties, and give me time to apply to a wealthy relation, 

 who lives in another kingdom. If you can prevail on yourself 

 to afford me this timely assistance, I will give you my name and 

 address, to a place, where you will see positive proof that your 

 benevolence has not been imposed on, and I may possibly re- 

 cover my diligence, and good friends, my customary place in 

 society.'' 



"You are troublesome, ungrateful, and impertinent," said the 

 gentleman, somewhat irritated; "can you suppose I am to be 

 duped by so shallow an artifice, can you expect me to give so 

 serious a sum to a man whose face I never saw before, and pro- 

 bably shall never see again ; I will do no such thing, you are 

 mistaken in your man, — post-boy, I insist on it, that you drive 

 on directly." ** Let him do it at his peril !" cried the robber, 

 raising his voice and presenting a double-barrelled pistol ; " stir 

 not an inch, before we part I must have your money or your 

 life. There is in your portmanteau that which will relieve all 

 my wants, deliver me instantly the key, your pocket-book which 

 I see you have dropped to the bottom of your chaise, must, with 

 its contents be also surrendered. Driver, alight directly, and if 

 you have any regard for your safety, stand steadily at the head* 

 of your horses, throw asido your whip, turn your ba( k to the 

 carriage, and unkss you wish for a slug through your head, take 



