Sir John Fielding was undoubtedly the originator of the horse patrol, which was found a most useful check on highway robbery. But it was not permanently established by him, and we find him beseeching the Secretary of State to continue it for a short time longer "as a temporary but necessary step in order to complete that which was being so happily begun." He was satisfied from "the amazing good effects produced by this patrol that outrages would in future be put down by a little further assistance of the kind." This patrol was reintroduced by the chief magistrate of Bow Street about 1805, either Sir Richard Ford or Sir Nathaniel Conant. It was a very efficient force, recruited entirely from old cavalry soldiers, who were dressed in uniform, well armed, and well mounted. They wore a blue coat with brass buttons, a scarlet waistcoat, blue trousers and boots, and they carried sword and pistols. Their duties were to patrol the neighbourhood of London in a circuit of from five to ten miles out, beginning at five or seven p.m. and ending at midnight. It was their custom to call aloud to all horsemen and carriages they met, "Bow Street patrol!" They arrested all known offenders whom they might find, and promptly followed up the perpetrators of any robbery that came under their notice. Very marked and satisfactory [Illustration: MARGARET NICHOLSON'S ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE GEORGE III. IN 1786 (p. 238). (_From the Painting by R. Smirke.)]_] results were obtained by this excellent institution; it almost completely ended highway robbery, and if any rare case occurred, the guilty parties were soon apprehended. THE BOW STREET RUNNERS.