Custom. But it was necessary, he suppos’d, to drink strong Beer that he might be strong to labor. I endeavor’d to convince him that the Bodily Strength afforded by Beer could only be in proportion to the Grain or Flour of the Barley dissolved in the Water of which it was made; that there was more Flour in a Penny-worth of Bread, and therefore if he would eat that with a Pint of Water, it would give him more Strength than a Quart of Beer. He drank on however, & had 4 or 5 Shillings to pay out of his Wages every Saturday Night for that muddling Liquor; an Expense I was free from. And thus these poor Devils keep themselves always under.

Watts after some Weeks desiring to have me in the Composing-Room, I left the Pressmen. A new Bienvenu or Sum for Drink, being 5/, was demanded of me by the Compositors. I thought it an Imposition, as I had paid below. The Master thought so too, and forbad my Paying it. I stood out two or three Weeks, was accordingly considered as an Excommunicate, and had so many little Pieces of private Mischief done me, by mixing my Sorts, transposing my Pages, breaking my Matter, &c, &c. if I were ever so little out of the Room, & all ascrib’d to the Chapel Ghost, which they said ever haunted those not regularly admitted, that notwithstanding the Master’s Protection, I found myself oblig’d to comply and pay the Money; convinc’d of the Folly of being on ill Terms with those one is to live with continually. I was now on a fair Footing with them, and soon acquir’d considerable Influence. I propos’d some reasonable Alterations in their Chapel^** Laws, and carried them against all Opposition. From my Example a great Part of them left their muddling Breakfast of Beer & Bread & Cheese, finding they could with me be supply’d from a neighboring House with a large Porringer of hot Water-gruel, sprinkled with Pepper, crumb’d with Bread, & a Bit of Butter in it, for the Price of a Pint of Beer, viz, three half-pence. This was a more comfortable as well as cheaper Breakfast, & kept their Heads clearer. Those who continu’d sotting with Beer all day, were often, by not paying, out of Credit at the Alehouse, and us’d to make Interest with me to get Beer, their Light, as they phras’d it, being out. I watch’d the Pay table on Saturday Night, & collected what I stood engag’d for them, having to pay some times near Thirty Shillings a Week on their Accounts. This, and my being esteem’d a pretty good Riggite, that is a jocular verbal Satirist, supported my Consequence in the Society. My constant Attendance, (I never making a St. Monday), recommended me to the Master; and my uncommon Quickness at Composing, occasion’d my being put upon all Work of Dispatch which was generally better paid. So I went on now very agreeably.

My Lodging in Little Britain being too remote, I found another in Duke-street opposite to the Romish Chapel. It was two pair of Stairs backwards at an Italian Warehouse. A Widow Lady kept the House; she had a Daughter & a Maid Servant, and a Journeyman who attended the Warehouse, but lodg’d abroad. After sending to inquire my Character at the House where I last lodg’d, she agreed to take me in at the same Rate, 3/6 per Week, cheaper as she said from the Protection she expected in having a Man lodge in the House. She was a Widow, an elderly Woman, had been bred a Protestant, being a Clergyman’s Daughter, but was converted to the Catholic Religion by her Husband, whose Memory she much revered; had lived much among People of Distinction, and knew a 1000 Anecdotes of them as far back as the Times of Charles the Second. She was lame in her Knees with the Gout, and therefore seldom stirr’d out of her Room, so sometimes wanted Company; and hers was so highly amusing to me; that I was sure to spend an Evening with her whenever she desired it. Our Supper was only half an Anchovy each, on a very little Strip of Bread & Butter, and half a Pint of Ale between us. But the Entertainment was in her Conversation. My always keeping good Hours, and giving little Trouble in the Family, made her unwilling to part with me; so that when I talk’d of a Lodging I had heard of, nearer my Business, for 2/ a Week, which, intent as I now was on saving Money, made some difference; she bid me not think of it, for she would abate me two Shillings a Week for the future, so I remain’d with her at 1/6 as long as I stayed in London.

In a Garret of her House there lived a Maiden Lady of 70 in the most retired Manner, of whom my Landlady gave me this Account, that she was a Roman Catholic, had been sent abroad when young & lodg’d in a Nunnery with an Intent of becoming a Nun: but the Country not agreeing with her, she return’d to England, where there being no Nunnery, she had vow’d to lead the Life of a Nun as near as might be done in those Circumstances: Accordingly she had given all her Estate to charitable Uses, reserving only Twelve Pounds a Year to live on, and out of this Sum she still gave a great deal in Charity, living herself