Tom was a native of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. His father was a clothier, whose business he followed until he was two-and-twenty years of age. In that period, however, the prominent dispositions of his mind were displayed, by extravagance, and running into debt. In order, therefore, to retrieve his circumstances, he went upon the highway. Out of gratitude for his father’s kindness, he commenced by robbing him of eighty pounds and a good horse. Unaccustomed to such work, he rode, under the impression that he was pursued and in danger of being taken, no less than forty miles. Arriving in Staffordshire, he attacked and robbed the stage-coach of a considerable booty. During the scuffle, several shots were fired at the passengers, but no injury was done. A monkey belonging to one of the passengers, being tied behind the coach, was so frightened with the firing, that he broke his chain, and ran for his life. At night, as a countryman was coming over a gate, pug leaped out of the hedge upon his back, and clung very fast. The poor man, who had never seen such an animal, imagined that he was no less a person than the devil; and when he came home, thundered at the door. His wife looked out at the window, and asked him what he had got. “The devil!” cried he, and entreated that she would go to the parson, and beg his assistance. “Nay,” quoth she, “you shall not bring the devil in here. If you belong to him, I don’t; so be content to go without my company.” Poor Hob was obliged to wait at his door until one of his neighbors, wiser than the rest, came, and with a few apples and pears, dispossessed him of the devil, and got him for his pains. He accordingly carried him to the owner, and received a suitable reward.