rying the hue and cry, and searching for criminals. Thus in
Therfield parish in 1757, we find the constable making this charge:--

for Sarchin the Parish upon Account of the mail L s. d.
being robedd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 1 0

This was the Caxton mail bag, and the "sarchin the parish" appears to
have created a profound impression upon the inhabitants, possibly from
the awful penalty for such an offence which young Gatward of the Red
Lion, at Royston, had suffered only a few years before. {49} The story
of the searching of the houses of Therfield for the missing mail bag
has been handed down even within the memory of persons still living.

The search appears to have been fruitless, but the truth could wait
even a hundred years; for, about thirty years ago some workmen, who
were digging at a spot at the entrance to the village by the Royston
road, actually dug up the brass label of the "Caxton letter-bag," and
thus confirmed the suspicions of those who had fixed upon the village
on the hill as the neighbourhood towards which the stolen mail-bag had
been carried by the robbers of that far-off time.

But though the Parish Constables were not an organised force of
permanent officials, there was something like a system, and on special
occasions of a heavy calendar at the Assizes or Quarter Sessions, we
find the Parish Constables drafted to be on duty at Hertford or
Cambridge, even though they had no business from their own parish.
Thus as late as 1823, when the celebrated trial of Thurtle and Hunt
took place at the Hertford Assizes, the Therfield Parish Constable's
accounts for the year contain this entry:--

Thomas Lacey, constable to the parish of Therfield, for attending the
Assizes at the trial of Probet hunt and turtle--

L s. d.
expense heating and Drinkin Lodgin . . . . . . . . 1 5 0
allowance for 6 days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 10 6

There also appears to have been a sort of gathering of the clans and a
dinner once a year, and in every parish account I have seen Dogberry
credits himself with having--

L s. d.
Paid at the constables' fiest . . . . . . . . . . 0 2 6

But, however useful and dignified an official the old constable was in
emergencies affecting the public peace, it was on the civil side of his
work that his duties often became the