'The Watch in most of the Out-parts of the town stand in awe of them, because they always come in a body, and are too strong for them, and when any Watchman presumes to demand where they are going, they generally misuse them.
'Last Night they had a general Rendezvouz, and were bent upon Mischief; their way is to meet People in the Streets and Stop them, and begin to Banter them, and if they make any Answer, they lay on them with Sticks, and toss them from one to another in a very rude manner.
'They attacked the Watch in Devereux Court and Essex Street, made them scower; they also slit two Persons' Noses, and cut a Woman in the Arm with a penknife that she is lam'd. They likewise rowled a Woman in a Tub down Snow Hill, that was going to Market, set other Women on their Heads, misusing them in a barbarous manner.
'They have short Clubs or Batts that have Lead at the End, which will overset a Coach, or turn over a Chair, and Tucks[607] in their Canes ready for Mischief.
'One of these Persons suppos'd to be of the Gang, did formerly slit a Drawer's Nose at Greenwich, and has committed many such Frolicks since. They were so outrageous last Night, that the Guards at White Hall was alarm'd, and a Detachment order'd to Patrole; and 'tis said, the Train Bands will be order'd to do Duty for the future, to prevent these Disorders; several of them were taken up last Night, and put into the Round Houses till order is taken what to do with them.'
The Spectator, whose living was by making the most of any popular subject of the hour, was specially exercised over the Mohocks. 'An outrageous Ambition of doing all possible hurt to their Fellow-Creatures, is the great Cement of their Assembly and the only Qualification required in the Members. In order to exert this Principle in its full Strength and Perfection, they take Care to drink themselves to a pitch that is beyond the Possibility of attending to any Motives of Reason and Humanity; then make a general Sally, and attack all that are so unfortunate as to walk the Streets through which they patrole. Some are knock'd down, others stabb'd, others cut and carbonado'd. To put the Watch to a total Rout, and mortify some of those inoffensive Militia, is reckon'd a Coup d'éclat. The particular Talents by which these Misanthropes are distinguished from one another, consist in the various kinds of Barbarities which they execute upon their Prisoners. Some are celebrated for a happy Dexterity in tipping the Lion upon them; which is perform'd by squeezing the Nose flat to the Face, and boring out the Eyes with their Fingers; Others are called the Dancing Masters, and teach their Scholars to cut Capers by running Swords thro' their Legs; a new Invention, whether originally French I cannot tell; A third sort are the Tumblers, whose office it is to set Women on their Heads, and commit certain Indecencies or rather Barbarities on the Limbs which they expose.'[608]
Sir Roger de Coverley was even somewhat nervous about them when he went to the play—and 'asked me, in the next place whether there would not be some danger in coming home late, in case the Mohocks should be Abroad'; and we learn how, finally, the party went to the theatre. 'The Captain, who did not fail to meet me there at the appointed Hour, bid Sir Roger fear nothing, for that he had put on the same Sword which he made use of at the Battle of Steenkirk. Sir Roger's Servants, and among the rest my old Friend, the Butler, had, I found, provided themselves with good Oaken Plants, to attend their Master upon this occasion.'
Swift was in mortal fear of them, and, in his 'History of the Four Last Years of Queen Anne,' declares it was part of a deliberate plan to raise riot, during which Harley might have been assassinated—and accuses Prince Eugene of setting it afloat. He writes Stella—in Letter 43—fragmentary jottings of his feelings during this period of terror. 'Did I tell you of a race of Rakes, called the Mohocks, that play the devil about this town every night, slit peoples noses, and bid them, &c.... Young Davenant was telling us at Court how he was set upon by the Mohocks, and how they ran his chair through with a Sword. It is not safe being in the streets at Night for them. The Bishop of Salisbury's son is said to be of the gang. They are all Whigs; and a great lady sent to me, to speak to her father and to lord treasurer, to have a care of them, and to be careful likewise of myself; for she heard they had malicious intentions against the Ministers and their friends.... I walked in the Park this evening, and came home early to avoid the Mohocks.... Here is the devil and all to do with these Mohocks. Grub Street papers about them fly like lightning, and a list printed of near eighty put into several prisons, and all a lie; and I almost begin to think there is no truth, or very little, in the whole Story. He that abused Davenant was a Drunken gentleman; none of that gang. My man tells me, that one of the lodgers heard in a Coffee House, publicly, that one design of the Mohocks was upon me, if they Could Catch me; and though I believe nothing of it, I forbear walking late, and they have put me to the Charge of some shillings already.... I came home in a Chair for fear of the Mohocks.... I came afoot but had my Man with me. Lord treasurer advised me not to go in a Chair, because the Mohocks insult Chairs more than they do those on foot. They think there is some mischievous design in those villains. Several of them, lord-treasurer told me, are actually taken up. I heard at dinner, that one of them was killed last night.... Lord Winchelsea told me to day at Court, that two of the Mohocks caught a maid of old Lady Winchelsea's at the door of their house in the Park, with a candle, and had just lighted out somebody. They Cut all her face, and beat her without any provocation.... I staid till past twelve, and could not get a Coach, and was alone, and was afraid enough of the Mohocks.'
This dreaded association was supposed to be under the orders of a chief or 'Emperor,' who wore a crescent on his forehead, and is so described both in the Spectator and in Gay's very amusing play of 'The Mohocks,' which is a delicious burlesque on the scare. Here is a sample of it. Some of the watch are talking about this dreaded band, and their doings. Says one: 'I met about five or six and thirty of these Mohocks—by the same token 'twas a very windy Morning—they all had Swords as broad as Butcher's Cleavers, and hack'd and hew'd down all before them—I saw—as I am a Man of credit, in the Neighbourhood—all the Ground covered with Noses—as thick as 'tis with Hail Stones after a Storm.' Says another: 'That is nothing to what I have seen—I saw them hook a Man as cleverly as a Fisher Man would a great Fish—and play him up and down from Charing Cross to Temple Bar—they cut off his Ears, and eat them up, and then gave him a swinging slash in the Arm—told him bleeding was good for a fright, and so turned him loose.' A third relates his experience: 'Poh! that's nothing at all—I saw them cut off a Fellow's Legs, and, if the poor Man had not run hard for it, they had Cut off his Head into the bargain.' And the fourth tells how, 'Poor John Mopstaff's Wife was like to Come to damage by them—for they took her up by the Heels, and turn'd her quite inside out—the poor Woman, they say, will ne'er be good for anything More.'
Gay also wrote another skit on these awful beings. 'An Argument proving from History, Reason, and Scripture, that the present Mohocks and Hawkubites are the Gog and Magog mentioned in the Revelations, and therefore, That this vain and Transitory World will shortly be brought to its final Dissolution.' It is not particularly amusing, being a parody on scriptural prophecy, and it winds up with the following:—