THE BATH ROAD 7 



which knew Chelsea as a quiet country village with a 

 thousand inhabitants, Marylebone as a space where cattle 

 feci and sportsmen wandered — the six inside passengers 

 had been twice nearly upset and shaken out of their seven 

 senses ; and it had scarcely begun its creeping passage 

 over Hounslow Heath when it was stopped abruptly, 

 and the six inside passengers had their six purses taken 

 away. When their eyesight, temporarily obscured by 

 agitation, returned to them, they recognized the French 

 page of the Duke of Richmond as the author of this 

 graceful feat, and having spoken strange words to the 

 guard for having neglected the fleeting oppor- 

 tunity presented to him for the discharge of his 

 blunderbuss (which was rather wild of them, the said 

 blunderbuss being a mere vehicle for the release of 

 coach guards who were weary of their lives, and 

 perfectly well known as such), they jolted forwards on 

 their way to Bath pale and purseless. 



The French page of the Duke of Richmond will 

 recompense us for their departure. Claude Duval was 

 about this time in the zenith of his fame : indeed in 

 1670 his brilliant career was cut short with the sudden- 

 ness in character with such shooting stars, and at the 

 usual time and place. To speak plainly, having 

 sacrificed unduly to the rosy god of Mr. Swiveller 

 at " The Hole in the Wall," in Chandos Street, the 

 gallant Claude was surprised in that elegiac retreat, 

 arrested without expense of blood or treasure — " and 

 well it was for the bailiff and his men that he was drunk " 

 — committed to Newgate, arraigned, convicted, and 

 condemned, and on Friday, January 21, executed at 

 Tyburn in the 27th year of his age. " A sad instance of 

 the irresistible influence of the stars and the fatality of 

 the climacterical years ; for Venus and Mars were in 

 conjunction at the hero's birth, certain presages of good 

 fortune, but of short continuance." 



He was I think the greatest of the highwaymen ; and 

 lately I have read the records of most of them : have 



