BEATING THE BOUNDS. 261 



bulation of the parish. At Husburne Crawley, in 

 Bedfordshire, four pounds are spent once in seven 

 years to defray the expenses of perambulating and 

 marking out the boundaries of the parish. They were 

 often opposed by the owners of property over which 

 they proceeded, and have frequently been prosecuted 

 for trespass, but the judges have always decided in 

 favour of the boundary beaters. If a canal had been 

 cut through the parish, or a river obstructed the way, 

 they had to swim or cross it in boats. If a house had 

 been erected on the boundary line, the procession 

 claimed the right to pass through it. 



But with all these innocent customs and old- 

 fashioned observances, one must not be oblivious of 

 the fact that England was anything but innocent one 

 hundred years ago : life and property were both ex- 

 posed to frequent attacks. There were any number of 

 highwaymen, footpads, and housebreakers ready to 

 take advantage of any moment when either property 

 was insecurely guarded or the temptation to possess it 

 became too overpowering to be resisted. Highway- 

 men especially were the terror of the road. Every 

 one has heard of Dick Turpin. He was no mythical 

 character, but actually existed. He was born 17 11, 

 and was executed at York in 1739 ; consequently he 

 was twenty-eight years of age at the time of his execu- 

 tion. He has been immortalised by Harrison A ins- 

 worth. Claud Duval lived a great time before. He 

 v/as born in 1670, and consequently had very little to 

 do with robbing stage-coaches ; but since the days of 

 Dick Turpin there was a famous highwayman called 

 Galloping Dick, who was executed at Aylesbury in 

 1800 ; and still later than this lived Captain Grant, the 

 Irish highwayman, executed at Maryborough in 1816. 

 The lower classes in those clays appear to have had 



