THE VILLAGE : IN AND ABOUT IT 121 



allowed to take my beer on the Green, and sit with my 

 neighbours, without being insulted, I shall take care that 

 no harm happen here. I am well aware of the bearings 

 of the place." We all spoke with him as a friend when 

 we met; and of my father he asked for any trifle he 

 wanted, and was never refused. 



This diarist had not always such a friendly 

 experience of highwaymen, for on their way 

 back from Vauxhall to Kew, her party was 

 stopped and robbed at Mortlake. The encounter 

 was so little expected that Mr. Papendiek had 

 laid away his new watch in a corner of the 

 coach, and when our schoolgirl, as she then was, 

 heard the robbers say that the ladies should not 

 be molested, she hid the watch for him ; then, on 

 her giving it back to its owner, the danger past, 

 he rewarded her by making sheep's eyes, which 

 in time brought about a marriage. 



But it was soon not necessary for Kew folk 

 to seek amusement so far off as Vauxhall, for, as 

 the lady tells us of 1776 "Kew now became 

 quite gay, the public being admitted to the 

 Richmond Gardens on Sundays, and to Kew 

 Gardens on Thursdays. The Green on these 

 days was covered with carriages, more than 300 

 being often taken at the bridge on Sundays. 

 Their Majesties were to be seen at the windows 



16 



