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 



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