the sermon in the morning being concluded, the troops marched back to barracks and the general and staff returned to Government House, where they partook of luncheon, and were again in requisition by 3 o'clock for the grand review of the troops on the common. There were no evening services in the churches and meeting houses in those days, except with the Methodists, who were quietly doing their work in the old Argyle Street meeting house, under the Rev. Wm. Black. The police of the town were conducted by one paid magistrate and one unpaid assistant, together with the clerk of the peace and three police constables, afterwards increased to four. Old Colonel Pyke presided as Chief Magistrate for many years, and was usually to be seen sitting in the little police office in drab knee breeches with gray yarn stockings and snuff colored coat. Age and infirmity having at last compelled him to retire, Mr. John Liddell, the second in command, was appointed Chief Police Magistrate by Sir James Kempt.[89] David Shaw Clarke had been for some years Clerk of the Peace. He was a member of the Bar and particularly well qualified for the office he held, the duties of which he performed with much satisfaction to the public. He was very remarkable as being the most corpulent man in town. The late Samuel Muirhead, who kept a liquor shop at the head of the Market Wharf, was next in size to Mr. Clarke. Muirhead died in 1820, and Clarke, from that time to the day of his death, had no competitor. No man was better known or more popular for about thirty years in Halifax than David Shaw Clarke. He was succeeded in his office by his son James Stewart Clarke. [Footnote 89: Governors had a voice in all appointments at this time.]