He now went to Harrogate, as usual, with the exception of _one_ house. Meeting with a butcher there one day, and drinking pretty freely, a wager was proposed to Metcalf, that he durst not visit his mother-in-law. He took the wager, mounted his horse, and riding up to the kitchen-door, called for a pint of wine. There being then only women in the house, they all ran up stairs in a fright. He then rode into the kitchen, through the house, and out at the hall door, no one molesting him. As there were many evidences to this act of _heroism_, he returned, and demanding the stakes, received them without opposition. The Harrogate season being on the decline, he retired to Knaresborough, where he purchased an old house, intending to build on its scite the next summer. Assisted by another stout man, he began to get stones up from the river; and being much used to the water, took great delight in this sort of work. Meeting with some workmen, he told them the intended dimensions of his house, and they named a price, by the rood, for building it: but Metcalf, calculating from his own head, found that their estimate would not do; so letting them the job by lump agreement, they completed it at about half the sum which they would have got by the rood. He now went to the Oak, to demand his wife’s cloaths, but was refused: on a second application, however, he succeeded. His wife having brought him a boy, and some genteel people being the sponsors, they employed their good offices to heal the breach between the families, and were so fortunate as to succeed. On the birth of a daughter (the second child) Mrs. Benson herself was godmother, and presented Metcalf with fifty guineas. He continued to play at Harrogate in the season; and set up a four-wheel chaise, and a one-horse chair, for public accommodation, there having been nothing of the kind there before.—He kept those vehicles two summers, when the innkeepers beginning to run chaises, he gave them up; as he also did racing, and hunting; but still wanting employment, he bought horses, and went to the coast for fish, which he took to Leeds and Manchester; and so indefatigable was he, that he would frequently walk for two nights and a day, with little or no rest. Going from Knaresborough to Leeds in a snow-storm, and crossing a brook, the ice gave way under one of his horses, and he was under the necessity of unloading to get him out; but the horse as soon as free ran back to Knaresborough, leaving him with two panniers of fish, and three other loaded horses, which, together with the badness of the night, greatly perplexed him:—After much difficulty, however, he divided the weight amongst the others, and pursuing his journey, arrived at Leeds by break of day.