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T h e phraseology of this notification is so involved as to render it difficult, without a town plan to trace the circuit. T h e boundaries frequently underwent alterations to square with the Judge's whims, or to meet the convenience or inconvenience of debtors, according to his erratic gusts of good or bad humour, and when once a prisoner was relegated to " T h e Rules," especially if the debtor were a person in a good position, the Judge would be in a state of constant fidgetiness as to the comfort, or discomfort, of the individual so out "under bond." W h e n Mr. J. B. W e r e was committed for contempt, as described in a previous chapter, after passing a night in gaol, he was permitted the privilege of " T h e Rules." Next day he moved into a comfortable house, and m a d e matters almost as enjoyable as if at h o m e . H e even ventured to indulge in a circumscribed canter on horseback, and one day Willis meeting him whilst in the enjoyment of equestrian exercise, was so horrified at what seemed to his jaundiced eyes an offence almost equivalent to a further contempt of Court that, returning to his chambers, he sent for the Sheriff, and commissioned him to warn W e r e that sojourners in " T h e Rules " were supposed to exercise only on their o w n legs, and if he met him again riding about, his conditional enlargement would be cancelled. M r . W e r e laughed; mentallywished the Judge in even a warmer climate than Melbourne on a hot-wind day, and paid no attention to the threat. Willis' thickening troubles intervened, or otherwise W e r e and his " prad " would have had to dissolve partnership. " T h e Rules" remained substantially the same until the 31st March, 1844, a day of immense jubilation to the defaulting fraternity, as, by an Act of the Legislative Council of N e w South Wales, imprisonment for debt was then abolished, unless under very exceptional and fraudulent circumstances. It is amusing and instructive to "mark the difference in the prison expenditure of the district now, and little more than forty years ago, when the Melbourne Gaol was the only place of the kind, and was thus provided for on the N e w South Wales Estimates for 1841 :—Gaoler, ^£120; Three Turnkeys 3s. 3d. each per diem, ,£177 18s. 9d. ; O n e Clerk, 3s. 6d, .£63 17s. 6d.; Rations for Prisoners confined in Gaol, ;£6oo; Clothing, .£80; Stationery and Printing, ,£20; Utensils and Incidental Expenses, ,£130. Total, ,£1191 16s. 3d. Towards the close of 1840, the prisoners increased to seventy, and soon after, the gaol was so inconveniently crowded, that, in hot weather, a number of the prisoners used to be let out for an airing in the street with a cordon of soldiers, ready to shoot any fellow disposed to run away. In March, 1842, the place was so thronged that the inmates had hardly room to lie down, and Wintle besought the help of the Police Magistrate, w h o pressed the matter on the Superintendent, and it was decided to release twenty-five ofthe best conducted prisoners. In 1840 a second lock-up had been erected at the south-east corner of the Eastern Market Reserve; and this being n o w walled in, some of the prisoners were removed thither, which eased the gaol proper. Further, the time had n o w arrived w h e n no longer delay could be allowed as to its enclosure, and a brick wall was built all round, except at the point which abutted on the street. In July, 1841, a curious compromise of a capital felony happened. T h o m a s Regan was committed to take his trial on a charge of rape, and whilst in gaol, he proposed to escape one noose, by putting his neck in another; or in plain words, if let off, to marry the prosecutrix, an arrangement to which she readily consented. T h e authorities were appealed to, and as there were strong doubts about a conviction, they were not indisposed to ratify the treaty, on due performance of the marriage contract. But a laughable and unexpected impediment intervened, through the Rev. Father Geoghegan refusing to tie the nuptial knot until the prisoner was released from custody, as he could not be validly married under duresse. T o this the law adviser demurred, as Regan, on being emancipated, might decamp minus his promised bride. Further negotiations ended in a bargain, the prisoner being allowed out in the street under a guard, with instructions to "pot" him as dead as a ducat if he tried the trick k n o w n as leg-bail. Here, in the midst of a merrycrowd w h o flocked to see the fun—prompted by the same curiosity that gathers modern old and young ladies to St. Peter's or St. Patrick's where more fashionable marriages are h e l d — a n d with military honours, the fellow's new fetters were securely rivetted by the ecclesiastical blacksmith, and the happy pair were soldered together as "bone of one bone and flesh of one flesh." A Melbourne newspaper describes the bridegroom as a "tolerably good-looking chap," and the "fair" one as " a giantess of six feet in height, one-eyed, with a large area of chin on which flourished a stiff, hard beard." If this portraiture be anything