262 HIGHWAYS AND HORSES. 



great sympathy for the knights of the road, possibly 

 because they had no occasion to rob the poor ; and it 

 was evident that the rising generation of shop-lads 

 and apprentices of those days was much impressed 

 with the exciting and adventurous life led by these 

 gentlemen of the road. In fact, there is an old ballad 

 which runs as follows : 



Hurrali for the road ! my steed, hurrah ! 



Through bush, through brake go we j 



'Tis ever a virtue, when others pay, 



To ruffle it merrily ! 



Oh, there never was hfe hke the robbers — so 



Joll)', and bold, and free : — 



And its end ? — why, a cheer from the crowd below, 



And a leap from the leafless tree 1 



The road that passes over Shooter's Hill near 

 Blackheath, was once the great Roman road from 

 Dover to London ; it was on this road that Turpin 

 made many of his successful raids on travellers ; in 

 fact, this spot was a favourite one for these tax- 

 gatherers of the highway. Byron has immortalised it 

 in verse by selecting it for the robbery of Don Juan. 

 Turpin's real name was Richard Palmer ; the position 

 of his family was a very good one, but he, being 

 apprehended for poaching, made his escape and fled 

 from his home. Turpin's first collection, for so it was 

 called in those days, was the robbery of the steward 

 of Squire Norton in Epping Forest ; he was conveying 

 his master's rents to London to deposit them in the 

 bank, and was travelling in his master's coach when he 

 was stopped by Turpin, who was riding the celebrated 

 Black Bess, which, although it did not then belong to 

 him, afterwards became his property. The carriage 

 which he stopped had only emerged from the " Spread 

 Eagle," a well-known inn in Epping Forest, about 



