authority that was ludicrous to those who witnessed
it--and must have been witnessed to be conceived.
Occasionally a guttural "ugh" would be responded in mock
approval of the speech, but more frequently a laugh, on
the part of the more youthful of his red auditors, was
the only notice taken. His lecture concluded, Sampson
would again brandish his cudgel, and vociferate another
shout; then betaking himself to the nearest store, he
would urge Silvertail upon the footway, and with a tap
of his rude cudgel against the door, summon whoever was
within, to appear with a glass of his favorite beverage.
And this would he repeat, until he had drained what he
called his stirrup cup, at every shop in the place where
the poisonous liquor was vended.

Were such a character to make his appearance in the Mother
Country, endangering, to all perception, the lives of
the Sovereign's liege subjects, he would, if in London,
be hunted to death like a wild beast, by at least one
half of the Metropolitan police; and, if in a provincial
town, would be beset by a posse of constables. No one,
however--not even the solitary constable of Amherstburg,
ever ventured to interfere with Sampson Gattrie, who was
in some degree a privileged character. Nay, strange as
it may appear, notwithstanding his confirmed habit of
inebriety, the old man stood high in the neighborhood,
not only with simple but with gentle, for there were
seasons when he evinced himself "a rational being," and
there was a dignity of manner about him, which, added to
his then quietude of demeanour, insensibly interested in