But of all the eruptions in which the Waterfordian distemper manifested itself, the most comically grotesque was the dog-and-bell trick, which was thus performed : — A certain house, where there was a strongly-secured door-bell, was selected, and after the family had retired, an ill-natured dog was put into a collar and a two-ended rope, the extremities of the cordage being securely fastened to both bell and door handle. T h e dog immediately after c o m m e n c e d to bark and plunge furiously, and the bell got into such a state of terrible tinkling that the inmates, believing the house to be on fire, rushed promiscuously to the door to ascertain what was up. W h e n an affort was m a d e to open the door, the dog pulled fast the other way, the bell all the time merrily going, a half-a-dozen larkers encouraging the animal to resist in every possible way. A n d so it continued until either the bell-wire or rope broke, or some of the not over-active police arrived to quell the fiendish hullabaloo. T h e gentleman w h o stabled his sticks in St. Patrick's Hall, was of an inventive turn of mind, and one day he conceived a happy notion of improving on the dog trick, and succeeded to his heart's content. His invention was this :—T h e dog was to be no longer tied to the rope( which was to have instead a shin of beef or a sheep's head firmly annexed. T h e dog was then set on the bait, and the animal lost no time in endeavouring to emancipate the joint. H e pulled and. plunged, and snarled and gnawed, whilst the bell was actively at work, and the astounded residents were hastening to the rescue. At every attempt to draw in the door, the prize receded from the dog, was sometimes jerked out of his mouth, and he was m a d e furious, by the belief that some opposing power was trying to cheat him of his booty. Labouring under such a mistaken notion he would jump towards the door, which, in self-defence, would be j a m m e d in his face, and not again opened in a hurry. Other vagabondizing dogs usually joined in the fun, and the shindy was often indescribable. T h e inventor is still (1888), I rejoice to write, alive and well in Melbourne, and no one, to see the respectably sedate, good-humouredly-serious, and mildly-mannered looking man. w h o n o w contemplatively strolls along " the Block," could ever imagine him to be the deviser of the most screaming farce that was ever put upon a stage, with an ill-conditioned brute of a dog as the principal of the dramatis persona. Such is a meagre outline of an institution which m a d e no small noise during the infancy of the colony, and though totally indefensible upon any moral or rational ground, there was a vein of chivalry permeating the "larkism" of old, when compared with the "larrikinism" of modern times. T h e old night prowlers, though gentlemen in name, were guilty of m a n y ungentlemanly indiscretions; but with all their rowdyism they were generous in a way, and ever ready to make compensation for injuries inflicted. If they cut a head, they were not unwilling to supply a plaster, which accounts for the almost total absence of prosecutions against them. In only one very outrageous case, where a sergeant of police was dangerously assaulted, was a Criminal Sessions conviction obtained, and even then a further pecuniary amende was voluntarily m a d e to the sufferer. There was a complete absence of malice in their out-door revelry, which might be compared with their duels, as displaying a penchant for fun more than for mischief; and as for murderous street robberies, the cold-blooded mutilation of policemen, befouling the streets with obscene language, assaulting or insulting women, would not be thought of. They were fast and furious, reckless and extravagant, impulsive and intemperate; and where too m u c h steam was generated, the high pressure should be reduced by some safety valve or other. A s a body, they paid the penalty of their excesses, for the many went the way of all flesh, prematurely, and the few remained as striking examples of h o w years and circumstances will sometimes effect such a metamorphosis in the m a n of fifty from the stripling of twenty, as to m a k e it impossible by any evidence short of ocular demonstration to induce a belief that they were actually the one and same individual.
THE DUELLO.
At the period of what is known as the Batman-r/m-Fawkner occupation of Port Phillip, pistol-shooting as a fancied m o d e of retaliation for personal affronts was in vogue in Great Britain, and during the ten years-1835-45—eight remarkable meetings are recorded as having taken place in
