8 THE LIFE OF PHILIP HENRY GOSSE. 



" chants bustling to and fro ; fishermen and boatmen 

 "and hoymen in their sou'westers, guernsey frocks, and 

 " loose trousers ; countrymen, young bumpkins in smocks, 

 "seeking to be shipped as 'youngsters' for Newfound- 

 " land ; rows of casks redolent of train oil ; Dobell, the 

 "gauger, moving among them, rod in hand; customs- 

 " officers and tide-waiters taking notes ; piles of salt fish 

 " loading ; packages of dry goods being shipped ; coal 

 "cargoes discharging ; dogs in scores ; idle boys larking 

 "about or mounting the rigging, — among them Bill 

 " Goodwin displaying his agility and hardihood on the 

 " very truck of some tall brig ; — all this makes a lively 

 "picture in my memory, while the church bells, a full 

 "peal of eight, are ringing merrily. The Poole men 

 " gloried somewhat in this peal ; and one of the low inns 

 " frequented by sailors, in one of the lanes opening on 

 "the Quay, had for its sign the Eight Bells duly depicted 

 " in full. 



" Owing to the immense area of mud in Poole Harbour, 

 " dry at low water, and treacherously covered at high, 

 " leaving only narrow and winding channels of water 

 "deep enough for shipping to traverse, skilled pilots 

 " were indispensable for every vessel arriving or sailing. 

 " From our upper windows in Skinner Street, we could 

 "see the vessels pursuing their course along Main 

 " Channel, now approaching LilHput, then turning and 

 "apparently coasting under the sand-banks of North 

 " Haven. Pilots, fishermen, boatmen of various grades, 

 " a loose-trousered, guernsey-frocked sou'westered race, 

 " were always lounging about the Quay." 

 Such was in 1812, and such continued to be for the next 

 twelve years, the background to the domestic fortunes of 

 the Gosses. Thomas Gosse presently departed, in his 

 customary nomadic way, and spent the winter at Yeovil, 



