The consensus is that 'The Highwayman' is not a true story. It's more of a literary composition crafted to entertain and engage readers through fictional characters and events.
It's about a highwayman who might have met an unfortunate end and now haunts a particular place. Maybe he was killed while robbing people on the highway, and his spirit lingers there, perhaps still seeking something he lost in life, like a hidden treasure or revenge.
The Highwayman poem is purely fictional. The author used imagination and literary devices to craft the tale. It doesn't have roots in real events or people.
Books on how to be a lady depended on what kind of work they were describing. In novels and literary works, a lady usually referred to a graceful, gentle, kind, and well-mannered female image. Some novels might describe the process of becoming a lady, such as how to cultivate an elegant temperament, how to learn how to speak and social skills, etc. However, different works might have different definition and ways of raising a lady.