8o THE BATH ROAD 



and continued through such stirring adventures as 

 being sold for a slave, becomino- a sailor and a 

 privateersman, was finally extinguished by the halter. 

 A short life and a merry. 



Strawkins, Simpson, and Wilson, too, helped to 

 keep up the stirring story of the road. They inter- 

 cepted the Bristol Mail and left the postboy, bound 

 with ropes, at the bottom of a ditch on the outskirts 

 of Colnbrook. They were tracked down by the Post 

 Office, and, Wilson turning King's evidence, the first 

 two were hanged. The Mail was then given an 

 escort of Dragoons, but highway robbery had too 

 strong a spice of adventure for one of these fine 

 fellows to resist it. He accordingly pillaged the 

 Bath Stage, and suffered the appointed end in due 

 course. 



This catalogue of mine does not close until 1820, 

 in which year four confederates plundered the Bristol 

 Mail. They had booked the inside seats, and during 

 their journey through the night forced open the 

 strong boxes placed under the seats, decamped with 

 their contents, and were never heard of again. 



XIII 



One of the most diverting stories of Hounslow 

 Heath, wdiich serves to relieve its sombre repute, is 

 that which the late Mr. James Payn tells, in one 

 of his reminiscences. " The story goes," he says, 

 " that early in the century the landlord of Skindle's, 

 at Maidenhead, was a strono- Radical, and could 



