William Plunkett (died 1791) was a highwayman and accomplice of the famed "Gentleman Highwayman", James MacLaine. He was convicted: the jury brought him in Guilty without going out of court. No remission was forthcoming, despite various signs of penitence shown by the prisoner. When the judge asked him why he should not be sentenced, Maclaine, who had prepared a short speech expressing his contrition and pleading for mercy, was unable to say more than one or two words, "My lord, I cannot speak," and stood in silence. The poet Thomas Gray, in his poem "A Long Story", referred to this when he wrote, When you extract this story from the morass of style through which it wades, it's as simpleminded as an old B Western. The two men lurk in the woods, spring upon the passing carriages of the rich, and relieve them of their wealth. Trouble looms when Macleane is smitten by the beautiful Lady Rebecca Gibson ( Liv Tyler), who, wouldn't you know, is the niece of the Lord Chief Justice ( Michael Gambon). The pair become known as the Gentlemen Highwaymen, the chief justice is enraged that they have not been captured, and the oily Chance ( Ken Stott) is in charge of the chase. transcribed using the screenplay and/or viewings of Plunkett And Macleane. I know, I know, I still need to get the cast names in there and I'll be eternally

William Plunkett (highwayman) - Wikipedia William Plunkett (highwayman) - Wikipedia

The Monthly Chronologer: Wednesday 8 November', The London Magazine, or Gentleman's Monthly Intelligencer XVIII (1749), p. 526 (Hathi Trust). You are the one I adore # You're the one # My heart beats for # You are my whore # Even now, old and poor # You're the one that my twisted heart beats for # You are my whore # Like the dog, I will gnaw # Like the dog, a dog # I will paw # You are my whore # On my knees on the floor This transcript appears in Charles Miner, History of Wyoming in a Series of Letters (J. Crissy, Philadelphia, 1845), at p. 180 [1], and Plunket's exploits in America are recounted in p. 164-88, etc. The same story is quoted from Miner by Gideon Hiram Hollister, The History of Connecticut (Case, Tiffany and Co, Connecticut 1857), at pp. 338–39. The band performed their songs for the 1998 junk musical "Strawheaded Peter" live on stage in the touring puppetry production - effectively producing a live, animated concert performance of the album with accompanying puppet show. A Narrative of the apprehending, convicting and executing James Maclean, for a highway robbery', in The Tyburn Chronicle: Or, The Villainy Display'd In All Its Branches (J. Cooke, London 1768), IV, pp. 346-49 (Google).

Execution of Maclean, Commonly Known by the Name of The Gentleman Highwayman, Cheap Repository for Religious and Moral Tracts (S. Hazard, Bath/J. Marshall and R. White, London, n.d.). Read at Google.

Plunkett And Macleane Script - Dialogue Transcript Plunkett And Macleane Script - Dialogue Transcript

The trial became a fashionable society occasion. A contemporary broadside includes an illustration: a Lady (perhaps Lady Caroline Petersham) is shown appearing as a character witness. One of the justices is saying, "What has your Ladyship to say in favour of the Prisoner at the Bar?", and she replies, "My Lord, I have had the Pleasure to know him well, he has often been about my House and I never lost anything." [29] Lord Eglinton declined to testify against him, and Walpole, reporting Maclaine's condemnation in a letter dated 20 September, added, "I am honourably mentioned in a Grub Street ballad for not having contributed to his sentence." [34] Of Mr MacLean, the Gentleman Highwayman', in S. Urban (ed.), The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, Vol. XX for the year 1750 (London 1750), pp. 391-92 (Google).Some fictional details crept into popular accounts printed soon after the trial, which reappear in later accounts. Putney', in E. Walford (ed.), Old and New London, volume 6 (Cassell, Petter and Galpin, London 1878), pp. 489-503, at note 2 (British History Online). Plunketts Creek in Lycoming County bears the name of Col. William Plunkett. He reputedly died aged around 100 at Sunbury (Pennsylvania [5]), quite blind, and was buried there in 1791. [6] But if this is true, and if he were the same man, he must already have been 60 at the time of the highway robberies on Hounslow Heath, and almost 85 when commanding the Northumberland Militia. The facts can be reconciled if the estimate of his age at death is exaggerated. After his death his body was dissected and his skeleton was suspended for display in a niche in the Surgeons' Hall in London. [47] William Hogarth included a representation of Maclaine's skeleton in the final plate of his series The Four Stages of Cruelty. Maclaine's execution was the subject of a Cheap Repository Tract of 1795, which went through several editions.