170 THE SQUIEE AND HIS VOLUNTEEES. 



knew notliing of the art of casting cannon from tlie 

 solid, and tlien boring them. "When Wilkinson 

 returned to England, he continued to send guns 

 after war had been declared. This clandestine pro- 

 ceeding came to the knowledge of Squire Forester, 

 who swore, and roared Kke a caged lion. Here was 

 the Squire, who boasted of his loyaltj^ to good King 

 George, having the minerals of his estate worked up 

 into guns for those wretched French, whom he 

 detested. He declared he would hunt Wilkinson 

 out of the country ; but the latter took care to keep 

 out of his way. 



The exposure ended in a seizure being made. 

 But Wilkinson, a money-getting, unprincipled 

 fellow, finding he could not send guns ojDcnly, sent 

 best gun-iron in rude blocks, with a pretence that 

 they were for ballast for shipping, but which, like 

 some of his water-pipes, were used for making 

 guns. His warehouse was at Willey Wharf, on the 

 Severn, by which they were sent, when there was 

 sufficient water, in barges, which took them out 

 into the British Channel, and round the coast to 

 French cruisers ; and it was at this wharf he built 

 his first famous iron barge. The proprietors of 

 the Calcutts furnaces, at which young Cochrane, 



