that the customer can get drunk for a penny, dead drunk for twopence, and have straw for nothing, was a copy, not an invention.  Attempts to limit the traffic in gin were met by riots so fierce that the government was obliged to withdraw its measures.  The violent natures of the common people appeared in their amusements as well as in their crimes.  Their sports were of the most brutal kind, and almost all involved the sufferings of men or animals.  Among other entertainments advertised to take place in London in 1729 and 1730, were “a mad bull to be dressed up with fireworks and turned loose in the game place, a dog to be dressed up with fireworks over him, a bear to be let loose at the same time, and a cat to be tied to the bull’s tail, a mad bull dressed up with fireworks to be baited."[139] Such amusements were interspersed with cock-fighting, prize fights, and boxing matches between women.  The same brutality characterised the crimes of the period.  Violent riots, aggravated by the plunder of gin-shops, attended the preaching of the Methodists, the Gin Act, and even the employment by Garrick of a few French dancers at Drury Lane Theatre.  Piracy and smuggling were systematically carried on, accompanied by atrocious cruelties and murders.  It was no uncommon practice for the inhabitants of the sea-coast to lure vessels on shore by false signals in order to plunder them.

Other causes, as well as the ignorance and brutality in which the lower classes almost necessarily lived, contributed to the number and impunity of criminals.  It was only in 1736 that the streets of London, hitherto plunged at night in total darkness, began to be lighted for a few hours by lamps.  The right of sanctuary, which still practically existed in such quarters as Whitefriars and the Mint afforded to criminals an easy and safe retreat beyond the reach of the law.  The rougher elements of the upper as well as of the lower classes, made the streets impassable at night without great danger.  They organized themselves into bands, and committed atrocious and wanton brutalities on inoffensive passers-by.  One band, called the Modocs, indulged in the amusement called “tipping the lion” which consisted in flattening the nose of the victim on his face and boring out his eyes with the fingers.  There were also the “dancing masters,” who made people dance by pricking them with swords, the “sweaters,” who pricked their victims with swords till they fell exhausted, and the “tumblers,” who set women on their heads and mutilated their limbs.[140] Others rolled women down hill in barrels, cut the faces of maid-servants, and slit the noses of watchmen.  The criminal classes became so daring and numerous that the streets were insecure even in the day-time, “It is shocking to think what a shambles this country is grown!” wrote Walpole.  “Seventeen were executed this morning, after having murdered the turnkey on Friday night, and almost forced open Newgate.  One is forced to travel even at noon, as if one were