FISHES AND FISHING. 19 



fishermen upon the coast, who were often mulcted by 

 some Excise officer for painting their old sails as 

 floorcloths for their little rooms, may do so now with 

 out danger. Yet I never demanded or received any 

 reward whatsoever, nor even accepted the price which 

 the old Act of Parliament cost me ; certainly I and 

 my family were free of Astley's and my friends' 

 theatres whilst in the hands of the then proprietors. 



"With a view to placing the Commissioners of Ex 

 cise in a good position with the public, a statement 

 appeared in the papers on the 12th of November, 1819, 

 that " the Supervisors of the Excise have for some 

 weeks past had their officers in possession of the 

 scenery in the different theatres; last week the ques 

 tion was decided by the Honourable Board of Excise, 

 in favour of the theatres." 



This is wholly false; the facts are exactly and 

 truly as I have stated, and I have the documents to 

 prove them, and the conduct of the then Commissioners 

 is most strictly true ; and as those documents will 

 show, I have told the plain unvarnished truth. 



I remember a Mr. H ds, as a good-looking and 



pleasant gentleman, a frequent visitor at our house, 

 who I think had some dealings in corn or malt, and 

 some of his descendants are still influential inhabi 

 tants at Dartford. Some time after we left this part 

 of the country, he (Mr. H.) was returning from 



c 2 



