The Merry Past 



sooner part with her life." The hero of the road 

 rejoined, " Since you value the ring so much, madam, 

 allow me the honour of saluting the fair hand which 

 wears it, and I shall deem it a full equivalent." The 

 hand was instantly stretched through the chariot 

 window, and the kiss being received, the highwayman 

 thanked her for her condescension, and instantly 

 galloped off. 



Nevertheless, the vast majority of highwaymen 

 were merely desperate thieves, and anything but the 

 free-handed generous spirits depicted in works of 

 fiction. 



At Preston Assizes, on the Northern Circuit, a 

 counsel having been instructed to defend a notorious 

 highwayman, received a fee of five guineas in advance. 

 When the trial came on the judge discovered some 

 flaw in the indictment, which was fatal to the whole 

 proceedings, and the prisoner was in consequence 

 discharged without any of the particulars of the case 

 having been entered into. 



The counsel sat until late after the bar dinner 

 in the evening, and the clock struck twelve as he 

 entered his lodgings, which were in a lonely house 

 a short distance from the town. Everyone was in 

 bed, and by this time anchored in the snoring depths 

 of a Lancashire hard sleep. The barrister sat musing 

 over the fire for an hour, visions of future woolsacks 

 figuring to themselves shapes in the burning coals, 

 when a loud knock at the door disturbed his medita- 

 tions. His clerk, of course, was absent ; and sup- 

 posing some client in a hurry, or some " rascal " of 



208 



