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behind, and hitting him twice on the head. Cavenagh was a tall, strong man, and never travelled unaccompanied by a riding-whip, stout cane or stick, so grasping his assailant with the left hand he leathered him unmercifully with the right. Closing with each other a fierce struggle ensued, in which Robinson m a d e a furious dash at Cavenagh's face, where he left the indents of his claws, Cavenagh taking him over the eye with his cane and drawing blood. Robinson, w h o had Cavenagh gripped by the throat, was obliged to relax his hold, but in so doing brought away as a trophy the whole breast or front of a snowy shirt, for Cavenagh was rather fastidious as to the quality and laundry of his linen. S o m e by-standers parted the belligerents, when the assailed hastened for redress to the Police Office, and the other to a chemist's shop to get patched up there. Before this plastering process was effected Robinson was in the clutches of the police, but bailed to appear at Court next day; and when he did so three-fourths of his head and face were strapped over with sticking-plaster. After the Magistrates patiently heard the pro and the con of the "set-to," they let off Robinson with a 25s. fine, the smallness of the penalty being measured by the profusion of blood which Robinson declared he had been depleted. MCNAMARA AND KERR.—In 1845 Mr- William Kerr was piloting his Courier through very troubled waters, and a wayward bad-tempered skiff it was. A s a newspaper it was the quintessence There lived in Queen Street a of acridity, a crust filled with a vitriolic-vinegar compound. peppery-tempered tailor named Michael M'Namara, w h o took a special pleasure in thwarting Mr. Kerr, whenever they met in personal dispute, threatening, in a slang peculiar to him, to "knock Kerr into the middle of next w e e k " ; "spread him like bags upon an ass;" or some other equally dreadful alternative. A n election was on the eve of coming off, and "Johnny" Fawkner, w h o had some notion of offering as a candidate, formed a coalition with M'Namara, though they detested each other as heartily as a certain unnameable black gentleman is said to loathe holy water. Kerr and Fawkner, w h o were fast friends until the former was ejected by Fawkner, senior, from the Patriot, were n o w implacable foes, and Kerr did everything in his power to check-mate the other. Getting an inkling of Fawkner's movements, the Courier one morning spoke out in this fashion :—" Mr. John Pascoe Fawkner is manoeuvring to get himself placed in nomination, and is to have Misthur Michael M'Namara, and a whole host of other half-hanged customers in attendance, to hold up their dirty paws in his favour." W h e n " M a c " read this he foamed with wrath and prayed that " he m a y be hanged, quartered, and disembowled," (a favourite Irish historical imprecation of his), if he failed killing Kerr the first time he came within arm's length of him. This occurred on the 19th September, and there was an election nomination the same day, which Kerr would unfailingly attend. M ' N a m a r a being something of a pugilist, relying on the strength of his "bunch of fives," dogged Kerr from the hustings at the Court-house to Lonsdale Street, and as they neared Queen Street, he was on him like a flash of lightning. Rushing before him and shaking a fist in his face, he yelled out, " Kerr, you villain, w h y did you blackguard m e in your filthy rag of a newspaper?" Kerr, w h o was, as already mentioned, virtually a one-handed man, always carried a whopping stick in his right hand. This weapon he raised, and aimed a tremendous blow at " Mac," which was skilfully dodged by the other, w h o dealt Kerr a smasher on the bridge of the nose which splintered his spectacles and sent him reeling against a shop window. Kerr, recovering, essayed again to raise his stick, but his antagonist rushing in, seized him around the body, and hugged him so violently as to compel him to drop the stick in order to keep upon his feet. Kerr then made several attempts to kick the squeezer about the shins and abdomen, when M'Namara, clutching him by his long hair with his left hand, planted a stunning blow on the right temple and felled him. Kerr was bleeding freely, and after a struggle managed to get upon his knees, when M'Namara stooping, asked him fiercely between his teeth: " Kerr, you out-and-outer of a scoundrel, will you ever put m e in your blackguard paper again?" and the kneeling figure, besmeared with blood, slowly but emphatically gasped out, " I will, I will." "Mac," then drawing back, delivered a parting blow between the eyes and passed on. T h e most extraordinary feature in the fracas was that Kerr, when assaulted, was in the company of two supposed friends, named M'Donald and Hamilton, and they were