Note 244 — QUARRELS OF AUTHORS; (continued 5)
Reading edition
The brutal amusements of these “Mohocks,” and the helpless terror of London, is scarcely credible in modern days. Wild bands of drunken men nightly infested the streets, attacking and ill-using every passer-by. A favourite pastime was to surround their victim with drawn swords, pricking him on every side as he endeavoured to escape. Many persons were maimed and dangerously wounded. Gay, in his Trivia, has noted some of their more innocent practical jokes; and asks—
“Who has not trembled at the Mohock’s name? Was there a watchman took his hourly rounds, Safe from their blows or new invented wounds?”
Swift, in his notes to Stella, has expressed his dread, while in London, of being maimed, or perhaps killed, by them.—Ed.