THE startled thieves pushed past young Mr Edwards and out into the streets, confusingly shouting ‘Stop thief!’ as they went, but were cornered on Water Lane beside the Thames. What Laurence Echard* called a ‘robustious struggle’ followed. The parson fired at Captain Beckman, who ducked and overpowered him. Something slipped into the mud, scattering lustrous gems. “It was a gallant Attempt,” cried the reverend; “it was for a Crown!”

A chorus of voices identified him as ‘that notorious traitor and incendiary’ Thomas Blood, wanted for trying to lynch the Duke of Ormond. A cobbler recognised another, who had tried to escape through the maze of narrow lanes on horseback only to crash into a cart, as Blood’s son-in-law, Thomas Hunt. Within two hours, all three were back in the Tower. The great pearl was later handed in by Katharine Maddox, a charwoman, and a diamond was returned by a barber’s apprentice. A ruby turned up in Perrot’s pocket.

Then came word that the King wished to speak to Lieutenant Blood. “The man need not despair,” the Duke of Ormond prophesied gloomily to Sir Robert Southwell. “Surely no King would wish to see a malefactor, but with intention to pardon him.”