And though the Privy Council went so far as to
"recommend Sir James Leslie, commander-in-chief for the time being of
their Majesties' forces within this kingdom, to cause make trial if
there be any such person, either officer or soldier, amongst their
Majesties' forces, as the persons described," no one was ever brought
to book, either amongst the troops in Scotland, or amongst "the officers
which are come over from Flanders to levy recruits."
Not so fortunate as this scarlet-coated gentleman was Mr. Hudson,
_alias_ Hazlitt, who in 1770 stopped a post-chaise on Gateshead Fell,
near Newcastle, and robbed the occupant, a lady who was returning to
Newcastle from Durham. A poor-spirited creature was this Hudson, a
little London clerk gone wrong, and he trembled so excessively when
robbing the lady that she plucked up spirit, and, protesting that half a
guinea was all she had, got off with the loss of that modest sum, not
even having her watch taken. Despite his pistol, one cannot but feel
that of the two the lady was the better man, and that, had it occurred
to her, she might very readily have bundled the highwayman neck and crop
into her chaise, and handed him over to the authorities.
His career, however, was almost as brief as if she had done so.
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