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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
171
The
following
is
from
the
'Annual
Register'
of
1761:--"Murders,
robberies--many
of
them
attended
with
acts
of
cruelty
and
threatening
letters--were
never
perhaps
so
frequent
about
this
city
[London]
as
during
last
month.
One
highwayman
in
particular,
by
the
name
of
the
Flying
Highwayman,
engrosses
the
conversation
of
most
of
the
towns
within
twenty
miles
of
London,
as
he
has
occasionally
visited
all
the
public
roads
round
this
metropolis,
and
has
collected
several
considerable
sums.
He
robs
upon
three
different
horses.
He
has
leaped
over
Colnbrook
turnpike
a
dozen
times
within
this
fortnight,
and
is
now
well
known
by
most
of
the
turnpike
men
in
the
different
roads
about
London."
Again,
it
is
recorded
that
"even
the
toll-house
keepers
in
London
were
so
liable
to
be
robbed,
that
they
had
to
be
furnished
with
arms,
and
enjoined
to
keep
no
money
in
their
houses
after
eight
o'clock
at
night.
The
boldness
with
which
street
robberies
still
continued
to
be
committed
was
evinced
so
late
as
1777,
when
the
Neapolitan
ambassador
was
robbed
in
his
coach
in
Grosvenor
Square
by
four
footpads
armed
with
pistols."
But
highway
robbery
had
long
been
practised,
even
by
individuals
in
the
higher
stations;
and
it
is
recorded
of
Sir
John
Falstaff,
one
of
Shakespeare's
heroes,
that
he
was
the
terror
of
travellers
on
every
road
for
a
hundred
miles
out
of
London.
The
place
chiefly
identified
with
his
exploits,
however,
was
Gad's
Hill,
in
Kent.
Thus
it
will
be
seen
that
the
roads
leading
out
of
London
were
infested
by
disorderly
characters;
and
robberies
of
the
mails
proceeding
to
and
from
London
were
of
frequent
occurrence,
as
appears
from
official
records
referring
to
the
close
of
last
century
and
the
commencement
of
this.
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