292 HIGHWAYS AND HORSES. 



conceal his perturbations, is delightful ; as though they 

 were something that could be put behind his back or 

 stowed away in the pockets of his tail-coat. Then, 

 when this amateur highwayman (who should have been 

 by rights rocking a cradle, or holding skeins of silk for 

 the women folks of his family, instead of taking to the 

 King's highway) calls on the Archbishop to return 

 him the money, his knees totter, and he sinks breathless 

 on the floor. Tableau, the good Archbishop and the 

 penitent highwayman!!! Act III. Curtain falls. 



A hundred years ago, that is at the latter part of 

 the eighteenth century, travelling was neither at its 

 worst nor best, it was just sufficiently on the increase to 

 make the profession of highwayman a very profitable 

 one, until they were captured, and made to expiate 

 their crimes by swinging in the air at Tyburn, or some 

 other well-known place of execution. Previous to 

 1783, Tyburn was the chief place of execution in 

 London, and a gallows was permanently erected there. 

 In the reign of Henry VIII. the average number of 

 persons executed annually in England was two thou- 

 sand ; the present number is under twelve. 



The gallows at Tyburn, upon which all the high- 

 waymen and other criminals arrested in and around 

 London were hanged, was frequently called Tyburn 

 Tree, because malefactors were at one time hung on 

 the elm-trees which grew on the banks of a small 

 stream called the Tyburn. 



Felton, the assassin of the Duke of Buckingham ; 

 Jack Sheppard, the celebrated house-breaker, im- 

 mortalised by Harrison Ainsworth ; Jonathan Wild, 

 the thief-taker and receiver of stolen goods ; Lord 

 Ferrers, who murdered his steward ; and Dr. Dodd, 

 all died on the Tyburn tree. Dick Turpin would 



