gibbet and ask after the state of Bolas's health. The
wager was accepted, and we are told the man undertaking it at once made
his way to the spot. Immediately upon this, another of the company, by a
short cut, proceeded to the gibbet, and placed himself behind it, and a
third, carrying a number of chains, concealed himself in a hedge
adjoining the road. Upon arriving at the gibbet, the person undertaking
to make the enquiry, screwed up his courage, and timidly said in a low
voice, "Well, Bolas, how are you?" Immediately, in a shaky voice, as
from a tomb, came the response from the person behind the gibbet, "Cold
and chilly, thank you." This unlooked-for reply completely upset the
valour of the enquirer, and turning tail he fled for the inn with all
possible speed. Upon passing the place where the person with the chains
was lying, he was followed with a loud rattling and reached his comrades
in a most exhausted and frightened condition. Tradition has it that the
event terminated in the bold adventurer becoming, and continuing ever
afterwards, a lunatic.

When Robert Bolas was awaiting his trial he believed that it would
result in an acquittal, and that he would thus be permitted to go home
for the corn harvest and get his barley. He was a man of immense
strength, and a great source of amusement to his fellow prisoners
awaiting trial, before whom, although loaded with heavy chains, he would
sing and dance with the most perfect ease. It was upon one of these
occasions, when he was in a particularly happy and hopeful mood, that he
is reported to have made use of the saying, which is known even to the
present day, "I would that these troublesome times were over as I want
to go home and get my barley."

A curious story is told to the effect that the corpse of Bolas was taken
down from the gibbet by some of his companions and thrown into the river
Tern, but that it would not sink. Weights were then tied to it, but
still it floated upon the top of the water, and subsequently was again
placed upon the gibbet. The part of the river into which it was thrown
is still called "Bolas's hole."

[Illustration: BREEDS'S GIBBET-IRONS, RYE.]

In the Town Hall, Rye, Sussex, is preserved the ironwork used in 1742
for gibbeting John Breeds, a butcher, who murdered Allen Grebble, the
Mayor of Rye. It appears that Breeds had a dispute about some property
with Thomas Lamb, and learning that he was about to see a friend off by
a ship sailing