It would appear that in 1750 the immemorial custom of halting at St. Giles’s, for “the bowl,” was abolished:—
1750. February 7. The criminals on their way to Tyburn were under double guard. The procession closed with the two under-sheriffs, who did not permit the carts to stop for the malefactors to drink by the way. There were thirteen criminals.
1750. May 16. Thirteen executed at Tyburn.
1750. July 6. Three women were executed at Tyburn. They were drunk, contrary to an express order of the Court of Aldermen against serving them with strong liquor.
1750. August 8. Six executed at Tyburn. “It is remarkable that the above six malefactors suffered for robbing their several prosecutors of no more than six shillings” (London Magazine).
1750. October 3. Twelve malefactors executed at Tyburn. One of them was the celebrated “Gentleman Highwayman,” Mr. Maclean. Another was William Smith, the son of a clergyman in Ireland. Smith was convicted of forgery. The Universal Magazine of October, 1750, gave long accounts of these worthies, and printed an ode by Smith on his melancholy condition. This is one stanza:—
Justice has ranked me with the dead:
I bow, and own the just decree;
Yet, e’er each sense, each thought is fled,
How shall I front the fatal tree?