112 THE SMUGGLE!}. 



form of a cross, presenting four limbs of strongly constructed 

 masonry, two stones high, with latticed windows divided into 

 three partitions, separated by rather neatly cut divisions of 

 stone. Externally it had a strong Harry-the-Eighth look 

 about it, and probably had been erected in his day, or in that 

 of one of his immediate successors, as the residence of some of 

 the smaller gentry of the time. 



At the period I speak of, it was tenanted by a family noto- 

 rious for their daring and licentious life, and still renowned in 

 county tradition for many a fierce and lawless act. Neverthe- 

 less, the head of the house, now waxing somewhat in years, 

 carried on, not only ostensibly but really, the peaceable occupation 

 of a Kentish farmer. He had his cows and his cattle, and his 

 sheep and his pigs ; he grew wheat and barley, and oats and 

 turnips; had a small portion of hop-ground, and brewed his 

 own beer. But this trade of farming was only a small part of 

 his employment, though, to say the truth, he had given him- 

 self up more to it since his bodily powers had declined, and 

 he was no longer able to bear the fatigue and exertion which 

 the great strength of his early years had looked upon as sport. 

 The branch of his business which he was most fond of was 

 now principally entrusted to his two sons; and two strong, 

 handsome daughters, which made the number of his family 

 amount to four, occasionally aided their brothers, dressed in 

 men's clothes, and mounted upon powerful horses, which they 

 managed as well as any grooms in the county. 



The reader must not think that, in this description, we are 

 exercising indiscreetly our licence for dealing in fiction. We 

 are painting a true picture of the family of which we speak, 

 as they lived and acted some eighty or eighty-five years ago. 



The wife of the farmer had been dead ten or twelve years ; 

 and her children had done just what they liked ever since; but 

 it must be admitted, that, even if she had lived to superintend 

 their education, we have no reason to conclude their conduct 

 would have been very different from what it was. We have 

 merely said that they had done as they pleased ever since her 

 death, because during her life she had made them do as she 

 pleased, and beat them, or, as she herself termed it, " basted" 

 them heartily, if they did not. She was quite capable of 

 doing so, too, to her own perfect satisfaction, for probably few 

 arms in all Kent were furnished with more sinewy muscles or 



