and then they asked for a gimlet. One was soon produced, and one of the men bored a hole in the side of one of the casks. Setting it on one head, and pressing it on the other, he squeezed out about a pint of spirits into a jug, and gave it to my mother, with " There, Missus, that's for you." They then shouldered the kegs and took their departure with a hearty " good night," and we heard nothing more of them.
It was in this old house that I took my first lesson in hydrostatics ; the spirits brought over by the smugglers were always over proof, and I can well recollect large quantities being put into an earthenware pan, and diluted with water till reduced to the proper strength, which was shown by floating glass beads properly numbered ; it was my part to watch them and see when the properly numbered one came to the surface.
There were other occupants of this house besides my father and mother and we seven boys and girls there was a large colony of rats and mice, and the old walls were infested with swarms of Cimex lectularius indeed, so numerous were the last-named creatures, that, when the house was pulled down, a jolly old butcher, who lived opposite the " Anchor" Inn, in George Street, said he saw a long procession of them going along the street looking out for fresh quarters!!
Where they went to history has not recorded.
