as so smitten with the generous behaviour of Mr. C.,
that he told him how deeply he regretted that the trifling affair which
had happened between them did not permit them to drink together. The
narrator of this anecdote was quite proud that England was the birthplace
of such a highwayman.[46]

[46] The Abbe, in the second volume, in the letter No. 79,
addressed to Monsieur de Buffon, gives the following curious
particulars of the robbers of 1737, which are not without
interest at this day, if it were only to shew the vast
improvement which has taken place since that period. "It is
usual in travelling to put ten or a dozen guineas in a
separate pocket, as a tribute to the first that comes to
demand them the right of passport, which custom has
established here in favour of the robbers, who are almost the
only highway surveyors in England, has made this necessary;
and accordingly the English call these fellows the 'Gentlemen
of the Road,' the government letting them exercise their
jurisdiction upon travellers without giving them any great
molestation. To say the truth, they content themselves with
only taking the money of those who obey without disputing;
but notwithstanding their boasted humanity, the lives of
those who endeavour to get away are not always safe. They are
very strict and severe in levying their impost; and if a man
has not wherewithal to pay them, he may run the chance of
getting himself knocked on the head for his poverty.

"About fifteen years ago, these robbers, with the view of
maintaining their rights, fixed up papers at the doors of
rich people about London, expressly forbidding all persons,
of whatsoever quality or condition, from going out of town
without ten guineas and a watch about them, on pain of death.
In bad times, when there is little or nothing to be got on
the roads, these fellows assemble in gangs, to raise
contributions even in London itself, and the watchmen seldom
trouble themselves to interfere with them in their
vocation."

Not less familiar to the people of England is the career of Jack Sheppard,
as brutal a ruffian as ever disgraced his country, but who has claims upon
the popular admiration which are very generally a