‘Mr Woodward Mounted’ by English artist James Seymour (1702-1752). Captain Johnson’s tale proved enduringly popular. Over time, the Welshman in the tale was identified with Thomas Jones (?1530-1609), also known as Twm Siôn Cati, a Welsh Robin Hood. Of course, Johnson could not have had this in mind, since he was telling the story as a tale of Tom Dorbel in the early eighteenth century. Author T. J. Llewelyn Prichard accordingly told the story in The Adventures and Vagaries of Twm Shon Catti, descriptive of Life in Wales (1828) with the highwayman unnamed.
The Welshman slipped off his coat and hung it on a tree, and Tom, seeing no harm in it, fired a ball through the cloth.
“Praise be, but that’s a pretty pounce!” exclaimed the Welshman. “Pray give another to be worth the Master’s money.” Tom cocked his pistol and fired again. “By Saint David,” said the Welshman admiringly, “that’s a better pounce than the first. Let’s have one more.”
But Tom shook his head. “I don’t have another ‘pounce’ left.”
“Ah?” said the Welshman. “But I do.” He reached into his breeches, and fetched out a small pistol. “I will thank you to give me my Master’s money, otherwise I shall be obliged to shoot you through the head.” Tom gave back the sixty pounds, and rode off with nothing to show for his first day on the job.*
Paraphrased from ‘The Life of Tom Dorbel’ in A General and True History of the Lives and Actions of the Most Famous Highwaymen, Murderers, Street-Robbers, &c. (1742), by Captain Charles Johnson, probably a pseudonym.
* We gather from Johnson that Dorbel now practised crime quite successfully for five years, but after two close brushes with the gallows (which he escaped by cunning and fraud) he hid for the next six or seven years in blameless domestic service. One day, he was asked to accompany his employers’ sixteen-year-old daughter to London, where she was to be educated. Tom stole her jewel-case, and raped her with shockingly brutal violence. The girl died of grief soon afterwards, and both parents were mentally broken. He was tried, convicted, and taken to Bristol where he was hanged on St Michael’s Hill, quite unrepentant, on Saturday 23rd of March, 1714, in his forty-fifth year of age.
Précis
The Welshman was very pleased with the hole in his coat, and asked for another. Tom obliged, but said he was unable to provide a third as his gun was empty. To this, his victim replied that his own gun (producing it) was not empty, and drew it out. Tom grudgingly handed back the sixty pounds, and went away disappointed. (60 / 60 words)
The Welshman was very pleased with the hole in his coat, and asked for another. Tom obliged, but said he was unable to provide a third as his gun was empty. To this, his victim replied that his own gun (producing it) was not empty, and drew it out. Tom grudgingly handed back the sixty pounds, and went away disappointed.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, although, if, just, otherwise, ought, since, until.
Archive
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Not. Oblige. Off.
2 No. Now. Sturdy.
3 Master. Shall. Would.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
High Tiles Find in Think and Speak
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
x
0
Add
Your Words ()
Post Box : Ask Nicholas
Grok : Ask Grok
You are welcome to share your creativity with me, or ask for help with any of the exercises on Clay Lane. Write to me at this address:
See more at Post Box.
If you like what I’m doing here on Clay Lane, from time to time you could buy me a coffee.
Buy Me a Coffee is a crowdfunding website, used by over a million people. It is designed to help content creators like me make a living from their work. ‘Buy Me a Coffee’ prides itself on its security, and there is no need to register.
Related Posts
A sportsman and an officer lays a wager that he can make a trigger-happy Irishman go barefoot in public.
Picture: By Edward Henry Corbould (1815-1905), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted September 23 2018
A doctor is wondering how to apologise for being drunk on the job, when he receives a letter from his patient.
Picture: By JMW Turner (1775-1851), Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted July 5 2018
Picture: © Gouwenaar, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.. Source.
Posted October 5 2017
