There once lived a curious person at Low-hill who had peculiar tastes. He built a place which was called "Rat's Castle." It stood on the brink of a delf, the site of which is now occupied by the Prescot-street Bridewell. This person used to try experiments with food, such as cooking spiders, blackbeetles, rats, cats, mice, and other things not in common use; and, it is said, was wont to play off tricks upon unsuspecting strangers by placing banquets before them that were quite unexpected and unprecedented in the nature and condition of the food. While lingering over my "Recollections" of Everton, I ought not to forget mentioning that, as time went on and Liverpool became prosperous, and its merchants desired to get away from the dull town-houses and imbibe healthy, fresh air, this same Everton became quite the fashionable suburb and court-end of Liverpool. Noble mansions sprung up, surrounded by well-kept gardens. Gradually the gorse-bush and the heather disappeared, and the best sites on the hill became occupied. The Everton gentry for their wealth and their pride were called "Nobles," and highly and proudly did they hold up their heads, and great state did many of the merchants who dwelt there keep up. The first mansion erected was on the Pilgrim Estate; the next was St. Domingo House. A brief history of these estates may not be uninteresting. In 1790 the whole of Everton hereabouts was owned by two proprietors. When Everton was all open, waste, and uncultivated land, one portion of it was enclosed by a shoemaker who called his acquisition "Cobbler's Close." This property was bought by Mr. Barton, who realized upwards of 190,000 pounds through the capture of a French vessel called _La Liberte_, by a vessel owned by Joseph Birch, Esq., M.P., called _The Pilgrim_. The estate of Cobblers' Close was then re-named "Pilgrim." The property next passed into the hands of Sir William Barton, who sold it to Mr. Atherton. It was this gentleman who gave the land on which Everton Church is built, with this stipulation only--that no funerals should enter by the West Gate. The reason assigned for this was because Mr. Atherton's house was opposite to it. Mr. Woodhouse purchased the Pilgrim estate from Mr. Atherton, and re-named it "Bronte,", from his connection with the Bronte estate in Sicily, which had been bestowed on Lord Nelson for his great services. When Lord Nelson received his first consignment of Marsala wines ordered for the fleet from his estate, he was asked to give the wine a name so that it might be known to the English people. Nelson said "call it Bronte." His lordship was told that "Bronte" meant "thunder." "Oh," replied the hero, "it will do very well; John Bull will not know what it means, and will think all the better of it on that account."