“Emulative of the character of Robin Hood”: The Highwayman Thomas Rainford in the “Second Series” of The Mysteries of London (1844–48)

By Stephen Basdeo This post discusses a character in Reynolds’s masterpiece The Mysteries of London, although I do not focus on the oft-studied and well-known “First Series” but instead on the little-studied and unfairly neglected “Second Series” (and Reynolds scholars should indeed study the second series; there is absolutely no evidence to say that the … More “Emulative of the character of Robin Hood”: The Highwayman Thomas Rainford in the “Second Series” of The Mysteries of London (1844–48)