conquered Saxons, used to enter houses of entertainment, and spill all the wine and ale of the host, piercing holes in his barrels, or in his own body, if he presumed to grumble. They also delighted in going in troops into the corn-fields to untie the ripe sheaves, and scatter them about, and throw the owner into the nearest horsepond if he complained of their sport. Henry the First, being a mild and equitable monarch, was scandalized at the excess to which these aristocratic outrages were carried, and imprisoned the ringleaders till they were restored to a more peaceable frame of mind, when he let them free upon payment of the damage they had done, and the addition of a heavy penalty to the coffers of the state. These freaks, as is generally the case, were imitated by men of inferior rank, who, if they cannot be like the great in any thing else, strive to resemble them in their vice and folly. The demoralization among the young men, sons of sober and wealthy citizens of London, was so great in the year 1159, that it was unsafe for mortals made of common clay, to pass the streets by day, or sleep in their beds at night. The chief of the Mohocks at that time was named John Senex, whose father was one of the wealthiest merchants of London. At the head of a dozen companions, who regarded him as their model in everything, he played all manner of disgraceful pranks, until these becoming of too tame a nature for a man so fond of excitement, he tried his hand at outrages, which in the present day would go by the names of murder and highway robbery, but which were then simply called riots. He was, however, caught one night in the house of a burgess, into which he had broken apparently for the double purpose of stealing the good man's money and his wife; and making a desperate attempt to escape, only succeeded by leaving his hand behind him. The burgess cut it off at one blow of his broadsword, just as John Senex had reached the outer door, and he preserved it carefully, to bring it forward in evidence against him. The state of the city was rendered so insecure by such proceedings as these, that the authorities determined to make an example of Mr. Senex. He was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to be hanged. He offered the sum of 500l.—at least as much as 4000l. of our present money to be allowed to escape; but justice was inexorable, his bribe was refused, and he was hanged at Tyburn.

Henry the Fifth, as everybody knows, was an illustrious Mohock in his time-perhaps, with the exception of Marc Antony, the most illustrious member that ever joined that body. His expedition to Gad's Hill is an achievement which alone would entitle him to be enrolled in the fraternity. It is true that a recent work* would lead us to believe that the Prince has been greatly maligned; but, without entering at all into that discussion, we will rest upon the fact that the Mohocks must have been known in that day, or the popular belief never could have arisen that such was the character of "Hal." Besides, is it not stated in the old chronicles, that one of the Mohocks having been arrested for his misdeeds, and brought to justice before Sir William Gascoigne, the Prince interfered to prevent his being taken to prison, and insulted the judge upon the judgment-seat; for which offence, he

* Memoirs of the Life and Character of Henry the Fifth, as Prince of Wales and King of England. By J. Endell Tyler, B.D.

himself, heir to the kingdom though he was, was very properly committed for contempt of court?

In the reign of Charles the Second the Mohocks were very power. ful. If they did not meet direct encouragement from the King him. self, they had such toleration and indirect countenance, that it is not at all surprising they increased and prospered. The honour of their chieftainship, if such it be, belongs undoubtedly to John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester. If we may believe Dr. Burnet, this famous Mohock once confessed to him that he was for five years together continually drunk, or so much inflamed by frequent inebriety, as in no interval to be master of himself. His companions of the Mohock tribe encouraged him in all manner of excesses: "which," says Dr. Johnson, “it is not for his credit that we should remember, and which are not now distinctly known." He used to disguise himself in mean attire, and seek for adventures, and once erected a stage on Tower Hill, where he harangued the populace in the character of a mountebank. Like Villon, also a poet, and a rake, he died of premature decrepitude at the age of little more than thirty. The Earl of Dorset was another Mohock, who flourished at this period. Wood, and, after him Dr. Johnson, informs us, that one day, being in company with Sir Charles Sedley and Sir Thomas Ogle, they all got drunk at the Cock, in BowStreet, Covent Garden; and, going into the balcony, exposed themselves in very indecent postures to the populace. At last, as they grew warmer, Sir Charles Sedley stood forth naked, and harangued the populace in such profane language that the public indignation was awaken

The crowd attempted to force the door; and being repulsed. drove in the performers with stones, and broke the windows of the house. For this misdemeanour they were indicted, and Sedley was fined five hundred pounds. What was the sentence of Ogle and the Earl of Dorset is not known.

We now arrive at the period when the name of the Mohocks was first given to them. The derivation of the word has been already stated. Their nocturnal disturbances had continued for a long time before Addison inserted in the Spectator the paper by Sir Richard Steele, exposing their practices, and the extent to which they were carried. That a club of Mohocks existed, with a chief or emperor, is probably a poetical figment, for which allowances must be made; but, as regards the rest, the account in the Spectator is little, if at all, exaggerated. "The avowed design of the Mohocks," says Sir Richard, "is mischief. An outrageous ambition of doing all the hurt possible to their fellow-creatures is the cement of their assembly, and the only qualification required in the members. In order to exert this principle in its full strength and perfection, they take care to drink themselves to a pitch-that is, beyond the possibility of attending to any notions of reason or humanity; they then make a general sally, and attack all that are so unfortunate as to walk the streets through which they patrol. Some are knocked down; some are stabbed; others cut and carbanadoed. To put the watch to a total rout, and mortify some of those inoffensive militia, is reckoned a coup d'éclat. The peculiar talents by which these misanthropes are distinguished from one another, consist in the various kinds of barbarities which they execute upon their prisoners. Some are celebrated for a happy dexterity in tipping the lion' upon them ; which is performed by squeezing the nose flat upon the face, and

boring the eyes with their fingers. Others are called the dancingmasters, and teach their scholars to cut capers by running swords through their legs. I have reason to believe," added the writer of the letter in the Spectator, "that many thoughtless youngsters, out of a false notion of bravery, and an immoderate fondness to be distinguished for fellows of fire, have been insensibly drawn into this fraternity." Swift relates, in his letters to Stella, that he was terribly afraid of being maimed for life, or killed by the Mohocks, and considerable alarm was felt all over London; for, at that time, the city was very badly lighted, and the watch were of little or no use in preserving the peace. In No. 347 of the Spectator, written by Mr. Eustace Budgell, there is a further notice of the Mohocks, in the shape of a humorous letter from their supposed emperor, Taw Waw Eben Zan Kaladar, and dated from the Devil Tavern. From this we gather that, besides the "tippers of the lion," the " tumblers," and "the dancing-masters," there were other descriptions of Mohocks, who were known by the name of the "hunters," the "scourers," and the "sweaters." The practices of the latter are described by Steele under the signature of Jack Lightfoot. "The sweaters," says he, may be reckoned a sort of dancing-masters. It is, it seems, the custom for half a dozen, or more, of these evil.disposed savages, as soon as they have inclosed the person upon whom they design the favour of a sweat, to whip out their swords, and holding them parallel to the horizon, they describe a sort of magic circle round about him with the points. As soon as this piece of conjuration is performed, and the patient without doubt already beginning to wax warm, to for. ward the operation, that member of the circle towards whom he is so rude as to turn his back first, runs his sword directly into that part of the patient whereon schoolboys are punished; and, as it is very natural to imagine this will soon make him tack about to some other point, every gentleman does himself the same justice as often as he receives the affront. After this jig is gone two or three times round, and the patient is thought to have sweat sufficiently, he is very hand. somely rubbed down by some attendants, who carry with them instru ments for that purpose, and so discharged. Going the other night along Fleet street, and having, out of curiosity, just entered into discourse with a wandering female, who was travelling the same way, a couple of fellows advanced towards us, drew their swords, and cried out to each other, 'A sweat! a sweat!' Whereupon, suspecting their intent, I also drew my sword, and demanded a parley; but, finding none would be granted me, and perceiving others behind them filing off with great diligence to take me in flank, I began to sweat for fear of being forced to it; but, very luckily betaking myself to a pair of heels, which I had good reason to believe would do me justice, I got possession of a snug corner in a neighbouring alley, which post I maintained for half an hour with great firmness and resolution. By prudence and good management I at last made a handsome and orderly retreat, having suffered in this action no other damage than the loss of my baggage."

From the tone and style of these letters in the "Spectator," many persons in distant parts of the country imagined that the whole story was an invention; but, when they came to London, they soon found there was too much truth in it. Gay, in his " Trivia," thus mentions

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the "scourers," and the "nickers," gentlemen whose delight it was to break windows with half-pence :

"Now is the time that rakes their revels keep,
Kindlers of riot, enemies of sleep.

His scattered pence the flying nicker flings,
And with the copper shower the casement rings.
Who has not heard the scourer's midnight fame?
Who has not trembled at the Mohock's name?

For about a century London continued to be troubled with the Mohocks, but the alarm about them gradually subsided, as they carried on their operations with much less ferocity after their exposure in the Spectator. It is not by any means to be supposed that they were quiet during so long a period; and if, without further observation, we pass over a century of their history, it is not for want of materials, but because the detail, differing so slightly from what has been already stated, would afford but little interest. It was not until about the year 1821 or 1822, that a new impetus was given to the fraternity. At that time the well-known farce of "Tom and Jerry" became the vogue in London; and, in imitation of the freaks of its personages, hundreds of young men enrolled themselves under the banners of the Mohocks, and sallied forth at midnight in quest of adventures. The prime achievement of that day was "boxing the Charlies,"-by which name we are to understand the watchmen,-and it was accounted the very acmé of spirit, the height of gallantry and bravery among some young men, to carry off a watchman, and deposit him, box and all, in a neighbouring horse-pond. Street conflicts were of nightly occurrence, and the Toms and Jerrys of that day became a greater nuisance to quiet people than the sweaters and tumblers of the days of Addison. The establishment, however, of a new body of police, composed of strong healthy young men, instead of the wheezy, sleepy, and decrepit old watch, was the means of putting a stop to the evil.

Of

Your Mohock, who, notwithstanding his bluster, is, after all, an arrant coward, hesitated a little before attacking these vigorous levies that Mr. Peel brought forward to keep him quiet; and, before they had been two years established, "boxing the Charlies" had become an obsolete and almost forgotten sport, and the Mohocks confined themselves to knocking at people's doors at midnight and running away, or cutting off bell-handles to preserve as trophies of their valour. late years, however, headed by two aristocratic leaders, they have reappeared in all their pristine splendour. Around them have rallied honourables and right-honourables, barons, baronets, and knights, with no inconsiderable number of shopmen and apprentices, who make it their glory to resemble in their defects, those above them in station. They principally confine their operations to one quarter of the town, occasionally sallying forth to the villages in the neighbourhood of London upon expeditions of mischief.

Of their sports in their own houses,-such as bringing their horses into their drawing-rooms, and leaping over the chairs and tables, we forbear to make more particular mention, but of their public amusements the following are the most notable:-They are exceedingly fond of injuring public monuments; of running off with sign-posts from inns and turnpikes; stealing knockers, bell-handles,

and pewter-pots; driving their carriages on the foot-pavement. It is also a favourite achievement with them to hire a carriage, if it so happen they have not one of their own, and drive through the streets of the metropolis at such speed that it is dangerous to attempt to stop them, throwing soda-water bottles against the windows of shopkeepers as they pass, or sometimes firing pellets through them with air-guns. A detachment of them, composed of silly youths, who have been spoiled for want of the horsewhip, and who are known by the names of the dousers and blinkers, take the gas-lights under their especial care, and sometimes succeed in throwing a whole parish into darkness, and putting the gas-companies to an expense of a hundred pounds for broken glass. This is a feat which the lowest order of Mohocks can accomplish; it may be indulged in by a man who has not a penny to call his own; but the really aristocratic Mohocks have more expen. sive amusements. They delight to go into low public-houses, with cudgels in their fists, with which they break all the bottles and glasses, to the great delight of mine host, who knows he can make them pay double or treble the damage. They also take pleasure in having rum and gin served up in buckets to prostitutes and cab-drivers; and one Mohock was known to sit astride on a barrel,-naked as Bacchus, and in the position he generally occupies on public-house signs, and in this trim serve out full goblets to about a score of delighted street-walkers and scamps of every degree, hob-nobbing with each until he became as drunk as the drunkest, when he rolled off his barrel, and was carried home to her lodgings by a sympathizing fair one.

But we have done. By such freaks as the latter the Mohocks do themselves more injury than they do others; and rid society of their presence by a process which is agreeable to themselves, and cannot be unpleasing to their heirs. They generally die off between the ages of thirty and forty, worn out, when other people are in their prime. If we could but persuade them of this, there might be some hope that the tribe of the Mohecks, like the tribes of the Mohicans, the Pawnees, and the Delawares, would gradually disappear in the light of civilisation; but we fear that their thoughts do not extend into the future; that present enjoyment is all their care; that they are of the number of those of whom Shakspeare sings in "The Rape of Lucrece," "Who buy a minute's mirth to wail a week, Who sell eternity to get a toy,

And for one grape would all the vine destroy."

There is but one course, perhaps, which can bring them to reason. The true Mohock has an inordinate idea of his own gentility, and his superiority to the vulgar; and, while he can commit any offence, from slaying a man with excess of drink, to running away with a door. knocker, and meet with no worse punishment than a fine, it will be exceedingly difficult to keep him within bounds. But, show him that while his actions are such as have been described, no fine however great can buy him off, until he has passed a few weeks at the treadmill, and all the glory of his vocation will disappear. Ladies who now smile on the man of spirit, who has bullied a magistrate, and paid five pounds, will turn coldly from him who has had his hair cropped, and worn the livery of the house of correction. "A fine, harumscarum fellow," "a youth of mettle,"-" a delightful, high-spirited