About twelve they fired into the house, both in
the front and the rear; the balls struck the ceiling
in the room where I was, sometimes close
over my head; as they were in the street, and
I in the one-pair of stairs, the balls went into
the ceiling, and dropped down on the floor; I
could not walk about the room with any safety.
I was forced to place myself by the wall between
the windows, and sometimes I would crawl
under the window to the next, and sometimes I
stood behind the brackets; then I would stand
up and drive among them like dung; I have
seen their balls strike the ceiling as I have
stood under the cover of the wall, and as I have
been going to fire, they have come over my
head, and some lodged in the ceiling.

"This firing continued all the night and all
the morning at different periods.

"When I attacked them backwards, I used
to crawl out of the window on my belly, and lie
upon the wash-house leads with my arms; I
have heard them say, 'You that have arms are
to fire upon him, and you that have stones are
to heave, and so many to break the door, and
so many to climb the wall.' If they got up
there, they could get in at the window from the
leads. I had Gilberthorp below to guard the
door, for part of the front door was broke. I
got off, I believe, about nine in the morning,
when I had no more ammunition left, only the
charge that I had in my blunderbuss, except
what was in the musket, that would not go off;
so I said to the men that were in the house,
'You see they are firing from every quarter,
there is no help for me, they will come in, and
I can make no return upon them to check their
insolence; the best way to make them desist
is for me to get out of the house, you will all
be very safe whether I make my escape or not.'
Mr. Gilberthorp said, 'Do what you think best.'
I said, 'They only want me; if they get me it is
all over, or if they know I am gone, they will
desist.' I took my blunderbuss over my arm,
and my drawn hanger in my hand, and went out
of the back window upon the leads; I saw
several of them in the alley. I levelled the
blunderbuss at them, and said, 'You rascals, be
gone, or I'll blow your brains out, especially
you (that was to one under me); but I scorn
to take your life.' He said, 'God bless you,
Mr. Green, you are a brave man;' he clapped
his hand on his head, and ran away. I went
over into Mr. Mereton's ship-yard; one of the
shipwrights met me; just as I jumped, he said,
'Mr. Green, follow me;' he took me to a saw-
pit, and showed me a hole at the end where the
sawyers used to put their things; he said, 'Go
into that hole, you will be safe enough;' said I,
'Don't drop a word but that I am gone over
the wall;' I got in, he left me; there I lay till
the Guards came. I heard the mob search for
me; some said he is gone one way, some
another; they were got into the yard; I heard
one of the shipwrights say he is gone over the
wall, and gone away by water.

"When the Guards came, one of the shipwrights
came to me, and desired to know what
I should do; I said, 'Go and tell the officer to
draw his men up and come into the yard, and I
will surrender myself to him.' The soldiers
came, and I came out of the saw-pit; I had
nothing but my handkerchief about my head; I
had been wounded between ten and eleven at
night. I surrendered myself to the officer;
Justice Hodgson said, 'Mr. Green, you are one
of the bravest fellows that ever was; who do
you intend to go before, me or Sir John
Fielding?' I said, 'I do not care who it is;' then
said he, 'You will go before me;' accordingly
we went, and when I came there he committed
me to Newgate."

Seven men—Grainger, Clark, Cornwall,
Lynch, Murray, Maherty, and M'Cabe—were
tried for this riot on the 21st of April, 1768.

The evidence against these desperate, cruel,
and cowardly rascals was quite conclusive.
Cornwall had been seen firing at Green's
window. Clark, whose brother was shot by Green,
had also discharged a musket. Grainger had
thrown brickbats. Maherty was seen firing
from the garret window of a neighbouring house.
M'Cabe had asked a man present for his sleeve
buttons to load with, and M'Cabe was heard
inquiring for pewter spoons and pots to cut
into slugs.

Some of the prisoners declared they were
there, but only with the design of keeping the
peace, and preventing the escape of Green, who
they maintained had been guilty of murder by
firing out of his windows. All seven men were
brought in guilty and sentenced to death, and
on the 26th of July they were all hung.

In 1769, the Spitalfields "cutters" anticipated
the recent savagery of Sheffield, and then
came a lull in London streets till, in 1780, the
terrible Lord George Gordon riots flamed out,
and intolerance let loose murder and rapine
once more, and did its best to make Protestants
rival the St. Bartholomew massacre.

   JOHN SKEEME, THE PROMOTER.

        IN TWO PARTS.       PART II.

SOME few months after Mr. Skeeme had
become chairman of the Universal Discount
Company, things went very badly with me in a
pecuniary way. After leaving the army I had tried my
hand at speculation in shares, and had lost two-
thirds of what little money I had. I then set
up in business as a foreign commission agent,
and lost the remainder. My cousin—the Guards-
man to whom John Skeeme was formerly valet—
used to keep me a little, but he had his own
family and his own responsibilities, and could
not of course do very much for one who really
had no claim upon him. Moreover, I disliked
the idea of living upon charity. I could not bet,
and did not understand the art of living at the
rate of twelve or fifteen hundred a year without
any visible means of existence. In short, I
wanted to turn my hand to something that
would earn me an honest livelihood, and it
struck me that I could not do better than look