were given to twenty- three convicts thus enlisted. Attend- ance of convicts at Divine service was enfoi'ced ; in summer when the heat was gi*eat, and the want of a buildiofL!; made ont-door service oppressive, ** the church-call was lieaten" at a quarter to six in the morning ; and the Rev* Mr, Johnson preached '* wherever he could find a shady spot." Eemission of sentence was given without much delay where Phillip thought it consistent with the puhhc interest. Barrington, a convict who arrived in Sept. 1791, was con- ditionally emancipated m Nov. 1792, and received at the same time a grant of thirty acres of laud near Parramatta. He had, as a pickpockets plied his roguery in fashionable assembhes in Dublin. Hia exemplary conduct when trans- ported speedily earned a pardon, and he behaved well after- wards. He was a constable for some time, and in 1796 Governor Hunter gave him a free pardon and made him a superintendent of convicts. A *' History of New South Wales/' dedicated grandiloquently to the Kiug» was pub- lished in his name, but he disclaimed the authorship, and it is probable that his name was used to excite curiosity and attract buyers. There is notiiiug original in the work, which is a mere cojiy of other publications,^^ In IBOO he resigned because of infirmity, and received a pension. He died in 1B04. Amongst the chronicles of the early days the report of the finding of a gold-mine by a convict named Daly deserves notice, if only to show how a stupid report will sometimes hold its ground. Even in recent times persons have been known to assert gravely that as gold lias been found in other parts of the colony, it is likely that Daly may have found it at Sydney. That the geological conditions are adverse to the idea matters not to such people. They are of the tribe of fools and fanatics who believed in England in 187 li that Or ton was Sir Roger Tich borne. Not even the confession of a criminal can tear their deception from them.^ Daly in Aug, 1788 made, from a guinea and a brass Imckle, some specimens of gold which he Haid he had found '* down the harbour,** An officer was sent with him to see the spot. When Daly found further deception
- Sfipm, p, 51 w, ^ la 1894 the man Orton confeaaed Mb roguery.
