3IO THE EXETER ROAD 



1848 ; but not before he had brought the time of 

 the ' Telegraph ' between London and Exeter down 

 to fifteen hours. 



The ' Half Moon ' is the inn from which the 

 'Telegraph' started at 6.30 in the morning, break- 

 fasting at Ihiiinster, dining at Andover, and stopping 

 for no other meal, reaching Hyde Park Corner at 

 9.30 P.M. It was kept in 1777 by a landlord named 

 Hemming, who had a very good understanding with 

 the highwaymen Boulter and Caldwell, and doubtless 

 with many another. There is a record of those two 

 kniohts of the road being^ here, one of them with 

 a stolen horse, when a Mr. Harding, of Bristol, being 

 in the yard, recognised it. ' Why, Mr. Hemming,' 

 said he, ' that is the very mare my father-in-law, Mr. 

 James, lost a few months ago ; how came she here ? ' 

 To which the landlord replied, ' She has been my ow^n 

 mare these. twelve months, and how should she be 

 your father-in-law's ? ' 



' Well,' replied Harding, ' if I had seen her in any 

 other hands, or met her on the road, I could have 

 sworn to her.' Boulter and Caldwell were at that 

 moment in the house at dinner, so the landlord took 

 the first opportunity of warning them. 



For the rest, Exeter is still picturesque. It 

 possesses many quaint and interesting churches, 

 placed in the strangest positions ; while that of St. 

 Mary Steps has a queer old clock with grotesque 

 figures that strike the hours and chime the quarters. 

 The seated figure is intended to represent Henry the 

 Eighth, and those on either side of him men-at-arms, 

 but the local people have a rhyming legend which 



