to instructing his housekeeper to make him wait in a cold parlour and to frighten him away by reporting her master was suffering with a deadly infectious disease. He could not abide being crossed by his friends, acquaintances and neighbours, and took his revenge in cruel and vicious ways, including burning hayricks, sabotaging carriages to cause serious accidents, maiming or injuring horses and livestock, burning plantations, choking chimneys, and manipulating his victims into positions of public ridicule. "He had a nicely adjusted scale of punishments for all who offended him". Most of his dirty-work was performed by his admiring gang of thugs and vagabonds whom he protected and provided with food and basic lodgings. He was wise enough never to give them direct orders to commit crimes, but merely hinted at what his pleasure might be, which hints were treated as orders. Examples are quoted by Baring-Gould: "For instance, if a farmer had offended him, he would say to one of these men subject to his influence, "As I've been standing in the church porch, Harry, I thought what a terrible thing it would be if the rick over yonder of Farmer G ---- were to burn. 'Twould come home to him pretty sharp, I reckon." Next night the rick would be on fire" and "A gentleman near had offended him. This person had a plantation of larch near his house. Froude said to Tom, "Bad job for Squire ----, if his larch lost their leaders!" Next morning every larch in the plantation had been mutilated". An example of a direct threat made by him to someone who had crossed him, a fellow parson from Hawkridge, was the following: "Do you not know that to-night on my return I have only to say at Knowstone, "Bones, bones at Hawkridge!" and, mind you, name no names, and your carcase will be stinking in a ditch within the week?". By these means he became feared by all who knew him, whether lowly or rich and powerful. When a man crossed Froude, as if by mystery within a couple of weeks he would suffer some calamity. If Froude's offer to buy a horse was refused, that horse would be blinded. If his parishioners did not pay their tithes to him promptly, their hay-rick would burn down one night, mysteriously. He did not hesitate to sell a blind horse, and when on discovering the