the bill with him. Like a prudent man he put
up at the inn, and made inquiries about his
debtor. Nothing could be more satisfactory.
Mr. Johnson lived with the best people of the
county; Mr. Johnson went every where, and was
a most affable, liberal, pleasant gentleman. So
when Mr. Davis saw Mr. Johnson, and that affable
gentleman begged him, as a personal favour, to
defer the presentation of his little account until
March, he at once concurred, and returned to
London, to give Elliott a glowing account of
his reception, and to inspire him with a certain
amount of jealousy that he— Elliott— had not
taken the account himself. March came, but
Johnson's money came not: instead thereof a
letter from Johnson, stating that his rents
would be due on the 25th of that month, that
he did not like to hurry his tenants, but that he
would be in town the first or second week in
April, and discharge the bill. Reading this
epistle, Elliott looked stern, and was secretly
glad he had not been to Winchelsea; while
Davis, glancing over it, was secretly sorry he had
said so much.

While the partners were in this state, in the
second week in April, no money having in the
mean time been forthcoming, enter to them a
neighbour, Mr. Timothy Lucas, jeweller, who
gives them good day, and then wants to know
their opinion of one Mr. Johnson, of
Winchelsea. " Why?" asked the terrified
upholsterers. Simply because he had given their
firm as reference, to the jeweller, who had
already sold him, on credit, goods to the amount
of 130l., and had just executed an order for
800l. worth of jewellery, which was then packed
and ready to be sent to Winchelsea. Now,
consternation reigned in New Bond-street.
Johnson's debts to Elliott and Davis were above
370l.; to Lucas above 130l.; immediate steps
must be adopted; so writs were at once taken
out, and the London tradesmen, accompanied
by a sheriff's officer, set out to Winchelsea to
meet their defrauder.

Early on Monday morning, the 15th of April,
as they passed through Rye, on their way, they
observed Mr. Johnson and his intimate friend,
Mr. Samuel Watson, coming towards them on
horseback, escorting a chariot within which were
two ladies, and behind which was a groom on
horseback. Davis the trusting, conscious of
having temporarily nourished a snake in his
upholstering bosom, pointed out Johnson to the
sheriff's officer, who immediately rode up to
arrest him, and was as immediately knocked
down by Johnson with the butt-end of his
riding-whip. The tradesmen rushed to their
officer's assistance, but Johnson and Watson
beat them off; and Watson, drawing a pistol,
swore he would blow their brains out. This so
checked the upholstering ardour, that Johnson
and Watson managed to escape, returned in
great haste to Winchelsea, where they packed
their plate and valuables, and made off at full
speed across country, leaving directions for
the ladies to follow them to London in the
chariot.

Clearly the London tradesmen were
nonplused; clearly the thing for them to do, was,
to consult with the mayor and principal tradesmen
of the town; clearly the place for the
consultation was the coffee-room of the Nag's
Head. In a corner of this coffee-room lay a
ne'er-do-weel, a pothouse loiterer, a taproom
frequenter, a man with the reputation of having
once had brains which he had muddled away
with incessant brandy-and-water. " Jack" he
was called, and, if he had one peculiarity
besides brandy-and-water, which was scarcely a
peculiarity in Rye, it was his intense interest in
all criminal matters. So, the tradesmen talked,
and Jack listened, until they had given a
description of the person of Mr. William Johnson,
when Jack went away to the den which he
called home, and, returning, requested to hear
Mr. Johnson's appearance again described. Mr.
Davis, the junior partner, looking upon Jack as
a harmless lunatic, complied with the request.
Jack gave a yell of delight, and, producing from
under his ragged coat, the handbill issued from
the public office, Bow-street, speedily showed
that Mr. Johnson, of. Winchelsea, and George
Weston, the mail-robber, were one and the
same person.

No sooner proved, than action taken. Off
goes an express to the post-office. Mr. John
Clark is torn from the bosom of his family and
summoned to the public office, whence he
despatches trusty satellites, with the result that
Mr. Johnson, with his intimate friend Mr. Watson,
are traced from various places to an hotel
in Noel-street, near Wardour-street, Soho, where
they slept on Tuesday night. Early on
Wednesday morning, indefatigable Mr. John Clark,
duly apprised, is at the door of the Noel-street
hotel, relates to the landlord his errand, and
requests the landlord's assistance: which the
landlord refuses. Clark sends a bystander off to
Bow-street for assistance, and the landlord
proceeds to caution his guests, who immediately
take alarm, and come slouching down stairs with
their hands in their pockets. Clark, who is
standing at the door, does not like their
attitude, thinks it safest to let them pass, but as
soon as they are fairly in the street, gives the
alarm, " Stop thief! Stop mail robbers!" Out
rushes a crowd in hot pursuit— pursuit which
is temporarily checked by Messrs. Johnson and
Watson each producing a brace of pistols, and
firing three shots at their followers; but at last
they are both captured.

So far my yellow-leaved, flyblown, faded
brief-sheets, which tell me, moreover, that
George Weston and Joseph Westou are the
Johnson and Watson of the Winchelsea drama;
that they will be proved to be brothers; that
George Weston will be proved to be the
highwayman and Joseph the receiver; and that there
is a perfect cloud of witnesses ready to prove
every indictment. I suppose they did prove it,
for, turning back to the first outside folio, I
find, in a different handwriting and a later ink,
"Guilty"— to be hanged at Tyburn— May 3;
and later still I see an ink cross, which, from