CONTENTS xvii 



of the sale of the article through the action of Mr. Gladstone, 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer— The Date Coffee Company 

 in the Law Courts— Final break-up of a company whose 5/. 

 shares had for some time been quoted at Till- • • -145 



CHAPTER XVI 



Capital punishments — Crimes of every description that were 

 punishable by death — Numbers at every assize left for execu- 

 tion — Banks and the two Cribbs for horse-steaUng — Sheep- 

 stealers — The new drop — Baron Garrow — A hanging judge 

 — The riots in 1832 — John Thompson at Maidstone — Instance 

 of superstitious belief in the charm of the dead hand — Mislaid 

 death warrant found, and, years after sentence, woman taken 

 from wash-tub and hung 155 



CHAPTER XVn 



Witchcraft — Its extraordinary superstitions — Biblical authorities 

 — Joan of Arc — The Puritans — Henry VIII. — Sir Matthew 

 Hale — Ducking at Castle Hedingham — Ruth Osborne 

 drowned at Gubblecote — Verdict of murder — Conviction and 

 execution of Colley — Susanna Hannock at Wingrove weighed 

 against the church Bible — Visit of the Fiery Drake to Ayles- 

 bury Gaol — Prognostication before the assizes of death 

 sentences 163 



CHAPTER XVIH 



Early steeplechasing — Qualities of a good steeplechaser — St. 

 Albans in 1833-34 — Aylesbury — Moderate stakes — The rise 

 and temporary fall of the Aylesbury meeting — Young ' Oxford' 

 at Aylesbury vice Banbury abandoned — A tremendous line of 

 country — Twice across eighteen feet of naked water and over 

 a turnpike road — ' Grief — Well-known cross-country gentle- 

 men riders at Aylesbury — Their hardihood and pluck — A cruel 

 course and unjumpable fence — A carefully laid-out line at 

 Aylesbury — Abuses and their reform — A great meeting — 

 H R.H. the Prince of Wales prevented from being present 

 — A defaulting official — The late Earl of Darnley — Reminis- 

 cences of 'Varsity steeplechasing — Assumed names of the 

 riders — The disguise stripped off by 'Bell's Life' — Bishop 

 Wilberforce and the steeplechases 169 



