caricature. Roper could not have been born a smuggler, and he certainly did not die a smuggler, for the last twenty years of his life were spent as captain of a pleasure-boat, a lugger, called the British Fair. He never had any family, so that the foregoing conversation never could have taken place, notwithstanding the writer's interest in his favour.
To return to our incident. Roper and his friends were enjoying their " brandy and milk" in the dusk of a summer's evening in 1825, in the " Ladies' Parlour," near the ruins of the Castle. Henry Isum, a quarter master stationed at Hastings, went up to the party and ordered them to put out their light, which was only a light in an ordinary lantern, for the purpose of lighting their pipes, and therefore not at all suited for making signals, even supposing any were necessary at such a time in the evening. Roper, with characteristic bluntness, said " he should not put it out," when Isum immediately drew his pistol and fired indiscriminately into the party. The bullet struck Roper in the fleshy part of the thigh, from which I believe it was never extracted . One of the party immediately closed with Isum, and would have taken summary vengeance on him, but was prevented by others of the party. For this act of deliberate shooting with intent to kill, Isum was committed to take his trial at the assizes. At these assizes, which took place at Horsham, there was some rather hard swearing, one wit-
