Memoirs Of Joseph Grimaldi

MEMOIRS 03? JOSEPH GRIMAXBT. 61

inspected it •with the practised eye of an experienced person,
declared himself thoroughly satisfied, and stated that if his
injunctions were strictly attended to, he had no doubt his final
operations would be completely sitccessful.

" It will be necessary," said Trott, speaking with great pomp
and grandeur, as the inmates assembled round him to hear his
oration,—" it will be necessary to take every portable article out
of the back kitchen, the parlour, and the bed-room, and to give
me up the entire possession of this house for one night; at least
until such time as I shall have laid my hand upon these here
gentlemen."

It is needless to say that this proposition was agreed to, and
that the females at once went about clearing the rooms as the
officer had directed. At five o'clock in the afternoon he returned,
and the keys of the house were delivered up to him. These
arrangements having been made, the family departed to the
theatre as usual, leaving Mr. Trott alone in the house; for the
servant girl had been sent away to a neighbour's by Ms desire,
whether from any feeling of delicacy on the part of Mr. Trott,
(who was a married man,) or from any apprehension that she
might impede his operations, we are not informed.

The officer remained alone in the house, taking care not to go
near any of the windows •until it was dark, when two of his
colleagues, coming by appointment to the garden-door, were
stealthily admitted into the house. Having carefully scrutinised
the whole place, they disposed themselves in the following order.
One man locked and bolted in the front Mtchen, another locked
and bolted himself in the sitting-room above stairs, and Mr.
Trott, the presiding genius, in the front-parlour towards the
street; the last-named gentleman having, before he retired into
ambuscade, bolted and barred the back-door, and only locked
the front one.

Here they remained for some time, solitary enough, no doubt,
for there was not a light in the house, and each man beingaken years to replace them, if the collector hadhman to the theatre,