to capture them. Blood was frequently shed, and loss of life was
not uncommon. I recollect one murderous business with which I should
have been mixed up if I had not made my escape by running into a house in
Atherton-street. The men used to get across the water to Cheshire to
hide until their ships were ready to sail. Near Egremont, on the shore,
there used to be a little low public-house, known as "Mother Redcap's,"
from the fact of the owner always wearing a red hood or cap. This
public-house is still standing. I have often been in it. At that time
there were no inner walls to divide the room on the upper floor; but only
a few screens put up of about seven or eight feet in height to form
apartments. The roof was not latted or plastered. When I last saw it,
some twenty-five years or more ago, the joists and timbers were all open
to view. Mother Redcap was a great favourite with the sailor-men and had
their entire confidence. She had hiding-places for any number, and the
men used, on returning from their voyages, to deposit with her their pay
and prize-money, until they wanted it. It was known, or at least, very
commonly believed, that Mother Redcap had in her possession enormous (for
her) sums of money, hidden or put away somewhere; but where that
somewhere was, it was never known; for, at her death, very little
property was found in her possession, although only a few days before she
was taken ill and died, a rich prize was brought into Liverpool which
yielded every sailor on board at least a thousand pounds. Mother
Redcap's was swarming with sailors belonging to the privateer, directly
after the vessel had come into port, and it was known that the old lady
had received a good deal of the prize-money on their account, yet none of
it was ever discovered. It is a very remarkable circumstance that some
few years ago, I think about ten or twelve, but I forget exactly when, a
quantity of money in spade-ace guineas was found in a cavity by the
shore, not far from Mother Redcap's. It has always been a firm belief
with me that some day a rich harvest will be in store for somebody--a
case of treasure trove like that which some years ago was known as "the
Cuerdly Find." Mother Redcap's was the resort of many a rough,
hard-hunted fellow, and many a strange story has been told, and scene
enacted, under the old roof.

The passage of the river then and at the beginning of the last century,
until steam-boats were intr