The Merry Past 



such an Amazon, retreated home, whence he im- 

 mediately saddled a horse and set out to stop the 

 party at Crawley gate. The race between the parties 

 on the road was most desperate, neck and neck all 

 the way ; but the turnpike-man beat the chariot, and 

 got the Crawley gate shut against its further progress. 

 Further, in conformity to an Act of Parliament, 

 which imposed a penalty of five pounds on anyone 

 refusing to pay turnpike, he seized one of the chariot 

 horses, of which, with assistance, he obtained pos- 

 session. To ride into town with one chariot horse 

 appeared impossible to Mrs. Potter. Meanwhile the 

 noise awakened the people of the inn at Crawley, 

 and the whole village turned out, with the result that 

 the lady was asked who she was. To this she replied 

 that she was the wife of a merchant, a lord, a general, 

 and a baronet, and several other titles. The villagers 

 concluded that she must have seven husbands ; and 

 the landlord, who had heard of a plurality of wives, 

 thought she was a Turk. Whatever she might be, 

 however, he advised her to pay the five pounds, 

 which she eventually settled by leaving her saddle- 

 horses in pawn for the sum. , 

 The fantastic fancies of this sort of ladies were 

 endless. The celebrated Kitty Fisher, for instance, 

 whose bewitching smiles were quite irresistible to the 

 gallants of her day, is said once to have swallowed a 

 thousand-pound note presented to her by an admirer. 

 For some reason or other, she put the note on a 

 piece of bread and butter, which she then ate. History 

 does not record whether the bank sent to thank her. 



*75 



