Chapter Theodosius to Thieves of Historic Note of T by Brewer's Readers Handbook

(10) Hassan, the “Old Man of the Mountain,” once the terror of Europe. He was chief of the Assassins (1056–1124).

(11) Hood (Robin), and his “merry men all,” of Sherwood Forest. Famed in song, drama, and romance. Probably he lived in the reign of Richard Cœur de Lion.

(Sir W. Scott has introduced him both in The Talisman and in Ivanhoe. Stow has recorded the chief incidents of his life (see under the year 1213). Ritson has compiled a volume of ballads respecting him. Drayton has given a sketch of him in the Polyolbion, xxvi. The following are dramas on the same outlaw, viz. :—The Playe of Robyn Hode, very proper to be played in Maye games (fifteenth century); Skelton, at the command of Henry VIII., wrote a drama called The Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington (about 1520); The Downfall of Robert earl of Huntington, by Munday (1597); The Death of Robert Earle of Huntington, otherwise called Robin Hood of Merrie Sherwodde, by H. Chettle (1598). Chettle’s drama is in reality a continuation of Munday’s, like the two parts of Shakespeare’s plays, Henry IV. and Henry V. Robin Hood’s Penn’orths, a play by Wm. Haughton (1600); Robin Hood and His Pastoral May Games (1624), Robin Hood and His Crew of Soldiers (1627), both anonymous; The Sad Shepherd or a Tale of Robin Hood (unfinished), B. Jonson (1637); Robin Hood, an opera (1730); Robin Hood, an opera by Dr. Arne and Burney (1741); Robin Hood, a musical farce (1751); Robin Hood, a comic opera (1784); Robin Hood, an opera by O’Keefe, music by Shield (1787); Robin Hood, by Macnally (before 1820). Sheridan began a drama on the same subject, which he called The Foresters.)

(12) Periphetes, of Argolis, surnamed “The Club-Bearer,” because he used to kill his victims with an iron club.—Grecian Story.

(13) Procrustes, a famous robber of Attica. His r eal name was Polypemon or Damastês, but he received the sobriquet of Procrustês or “The Stretcher,” from his practice of placing all victims that fell into his hands on a certain bedstead. If the victim was too short to fit it, he stretched the limbs to the right length; if too long, he lopped off the redundant part.—Grecian Story.

(14) Rea (William), executed at Old Bailey in 1828.

(15) Sheppard (Jack), an ardent, reckless, generous youth, wholly unrivalled as a thief and burglar. His father was a carpenter in Spitalfields. Sentence of death was passed on him in August, 1724; but when the warders came to take him to execution, they found he had escaped. He was apprehended in the following October, and again made his escape. A third time he was caught, and in November suffered death. Certainly one of the most popular burglars that ever lived (1701–1724).

(Daniel Defoe made Jack Sheppard the hero of a romance in 1724, and H. Ainsworth in 1839.)

(16) Sinis, a Corinthian highwayman, surnamed “The Pine-Bender,” from his custom of attaching the limbs of his victims to two opposite pine trees forcibly bent down. Immediately the pine trees were released, they bounded back, tearing the victim limb from limb.—Grecian Story.

(17) Termeros, a robber of Peloponnesos, who killed his victims by cracking their skulls against his own.

(18) Turpin (Dick), a noted highwayman (1711–1739). His ride to York [not historic] is described by H. Ainsworth in his Rookwood (1834).

(19) Whitney (James), the last of the “gentlemanly” highwaymen. He prided himself on being “the glass of fashion, and the mould of form.” Executed at Porter’s Block, near Smithfield (1660–1694).

(20) Wild (Jonathan), a cool, calculating, heartless villain, with the voice of a Stentor. He was born at Wolverhampton, in Staffordshire, and, like Sheppard, was the son of a carpenter. Unlike Sheppard, this cold-blooded villain was universally execrated. He was hanged at Tyburn (1682–1725).