HIGHWAYMEN 173 



speaks of a highwayman "Davis, the Tallow Chandler," 

 who robbed the Cirencester mail, and was condemned 

 to be hanged and his body hung in chains, "in some 

 convenient place near where the robbery was com- 

 mitted." 



Many stories, true and fi6litious, have collefted round 

 the personalities of the most noted highwaymen, but 

 probably the one which appeals most to the popular 

 imagination is the account of Dick Turpin's fiftitious 

 ride to York, which originated in the inventive genius of 

 Harrison Ainsworth. In real life Dick Turpin was a 

 brutal and, it is hinted, cowardly ruffian, who never 

 rode to York in one day, or owned the celebrated but 

 mythical Black Bess. Happily, history does not deprive 

 us entirely of the ride from Gadshill to York; it was an 

 actual performance undertaken by a highwayman to 

 prove an alibi, but the hero of it was one Nevison, better 

 known as "Swift Nicks." 



Though sceptics have thrown grave doubts on Claude 

 Du Vall's famous dance on the heath, they have not been 

 able to disprove it, so that the otherwise sordid history 

 of highwaymen may be allowed that one bit of romance. 

 Du Vail and his companions had received information 

 that a knight with ^£400 in his coach was travelling 

 towards them, and they promptly decided that before 

 the night was over the ;^400 should have changed hands. 



The knight, like all who carried valuables in those 

 days, was anything but easy in his mind, and as night 

 approached he continually looked out of the coach. At 

 last he espied what he had been looking for, namely, the 



