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personal abuse was resorted to. Take the following as a laughable illustration which I had from one of the actors : — M r . W . F. A. Rucker, the second earliest of the commercial world of Melbourne, used to dine every day at Fawkner's public table, and on one occasion " J o h n n y " would only give him a certain part of a joint to which he knew Rucker had an antipathy, and when the latter begged to be helped to something else, Fawkner " h o hoed" and laughed in his face, declaring that what he had been offered was good enough for him, and not a bite of anything else should he have even if he starved. Rucker rose and quitted the room, and had a tent rigged up as a personal board and lodging house on a convenient slice of the wharf. T h e next day was very hot, windy, and dusty, and whilst Rucker was discussing a chop dinner under canvas, a tremendous squall came rolling along over the hills, and taking the tent at the rear, swept it and the limited prandial appliances into the river, the proprietor having m u c h difficulty in clearing himself of the disjecta membra, and so escaping, if not a possible drowning, an absolute ducking. Recovering his legs he beheld with regret his appetizing grill disappear to feast thefishes,and with a sigh was obliged to confess that after all, bad as Fawkner's menu was, a hungry m a n might go further and fare worse. H e went back, made his peace with the hotelkeeper (always easily mollified), and remaining there with m e e k resignation, took "Johnny's" pot-luck without a m u r m u r until he was able to procure more comfortable quarters. Fawkner was not long the only Licensed Victualler. Fawknet's Hotel, (some of the materials for which had been fashioned in V a n Diemen's Land and imported for the purpose) was thrown together by the rough bush carpenters or handy m e n of the time, and was little more than a clumsy and comfortless booth. It was put up on a piece of Government land " jumped " for the occasion before a scrap of the township was sold. In 1837, Fawkner visited Launceston, leaving the " hotel " in charge of a friend named Evans, and several acres of wheat nearlyfitfor the sickle, between the Yarra and Emerald Hill. "Johnny" had no sooner turned his back on Port Phillip than Evans sublet to one Smith, w h o was determined "to have and to hold" the premises against all comers, the redoubtable Fawkner included. Smith also appropriated the crop of golden corn, and by aid of some of the military, w h o were allowed at times to do odd jobs of work for the civilians, had it reaped and stooked. O n Fawkner's return, Smith refused not only to admit him, but point blank declined to give up the premises. T h e land was " no man's territory," and until the Government chose to turn him out he would not budge an inch. N o law of ejectment as yet ran in the district, and in such a case, " possession " which is said to constitute " nine points of law," where land laws are in operation, was everything here. Fawkner blustered and raged, snarled and swore, but ail to no purpose. Smith for the time had the whip hand of him. Fawkner at length corked up the residuum of his wrath, apparently " bested," but mentally vowing he would have another try for what he believed to be his—legally perhaps not, but in equity assuredly. T w o or three nights after, the place was stormed by Fawkner at the head of a band of V a n Diemonian sympathizers, well primed with rum, w h o assailed the stronghold as if they were so many battering rams, and for a time it was thought the whole concern would collapse and be the grave of its defenders. Smith, apprehensive that he should have to stand a siege, was not quite unprepared, having a strong defensive force, and after some hours' sharp work (in which there were several cut heads, bruised limbs, and damaged faces, but no killed), the Fawknerians, by escalading the windows forced their way into the parlour. Fawkner then had this place so securely barricaded against ingress, as to render it unassailable except by fire—a measure which Smith could not resort to without destroying the whole concern. Next morning, after leaving an armed guard in possession, " J o h n n y " with the rest of his retainers sallied over the river, and brought as many of the corn sheaves with them as would more than halffillthe parlour. In this improvised barn he set a couple of threshers to work, w h o were to be relieved by relays of freshflailers,and they were to h a m m e r away day and night without intermission, making as m u c h noise as possible. T h e din was increased by the loud babblement of the crowd that gathered outside to listen to the fun, and the result was that Smith, anxious to escape the probable horrors of a lunatic asylum, vacated the tenement, and Fawkner was reinstated by stratagem. But Smith had his revenge in another and unexpected manner. Mr. Henry Ratman had laid d o w n in the Market Square the wooden framework of a house, in which he resided for a short time. H e sold this to Smith, w h o had it removed across the street, where it formed the foundation of the Lamb Inn, a tavern which soon acquired a popularity which seriously damaged Fawkner's business. A sensational end awaited Melbourne's first