The distillery of Thomas Hill was at the corner of Essex and South Streets, not far from Dr. Belknap's residence in Lincoln Street. Dr. Byles called on Mr. Hill, and inquired--"Do you still?"--"That is my business," Mr. Hill replied.--"Then," said Dr. Byles--"will you go with me, and still my wife?" As he was once occupied, in nailing some list upon his doors, to exclude the cold, a parishioner said to him--"the wind bloweth wheresoever it listeth, Dr. Byles."--"Yes sir," replied the Dr. "and man listeth, wheresoever the wind bloweth." He was intimate with General Knox, who was a bookseller, before the war. When the American troops took possession of the town, after the evacuation, Knox, who had become quite corpulent, marched in, at the head of his artillery. As he passed on, Byles, who thought himself privileged, on old scores, exclaimed, loud enough to be heard--"_I never saw an ox fatter in my life_." But Knox was not in the vein. He felt offended by this freedom, especially from Byles, who was then well known to be a tory; and replied, in uncourtly terms, that he was a "---- fool." In May, 1777, Dr. Byles was arrested, as a tory, and subsequently tried, convicted, and sentenced to confinement, on board a guard ship, and to be sent to England with his family, in forty days. This sentence was changed, by the board of war, to confinement in his own house. A guard was placed over him. After a time, the sentinel was removed--afterwards replaced--and again removed--when the Dr. exclaimed, that _he had been guarded--regarded--and disregarded_. He called his sentry his _observ-a-tory_. Perceiving, one morning, that the sentinel, a simple fellow, was absent, and seeing Dr. Byles himself, pacing before his own door, with a musket on his shoulder, the neighbors stepped over, to inquire the cause--"_You see_," said the Dr., "_I begged the sentinel to let me go for some milk for my family, but he would not suffer me to stir. I reasoned the matter with him; and he has gone, himself, to get it for me, on condition that I keep guard in his absence._" When he was very poor, and had no money to waste on follies, he caused the little room, in which he read and wrote, to be painted brown, that he might say to every visitor--"_You see I am in a brown study_." His family, having gone to rest, were roused one night, by the reiterated cry of _thieves!--thieves!_ in the doctor's loudest voice--the wife and daughters sprang instantly from their beds, and rushed into the room--there sat the Dr. alone, in his study chair--"_Where, father?_" cried the astonished family--"_there!_" he exclaimed, pointing to the candles. One bitter December night, he called his daughters from their bed, simply to inquire if they lay warm.