im fifty pounds
within a fortnight he'll send a distress warrant into the house, and take
all I have. My poor niece is crying in the room above; and I am thinking
of going into the stable and hanging myself; and perhaps it's the best
thing I can do, for it's better to hang myself before selling my soul
than afterwards, as I'm sure I should, like Judas Iscariot, whom my poor
niece, who is somewhat religiously inclined, has been talking to me
about.' 'I wish I could assist you,' said I, 'with money, but that is
quite out of my power. However, I can give you a piece of advice. Don't
change your religion by any means; you can't hope to prosper if you do;
and if the brewer chooses to deal hardly with you, let him. Everybody
would respect you ten times more provided you allowed yourself to be
turned into the roads rather than change your religion, than if you got
fifty pounds for renouncing it.' 'I am half inclined to take your
advice,' said the landlord, 'only, to tell you the truth, I feel quite
low, without any heart in me.' 'Come into the bar,' said I, 'and let us
have something together--you need not be afraid of my not paying for what
I order.'

We went into the bar-room, where the landlord and I discussed between us
two bottles of strong ale, which he said were part of the last six which
he had in his possession. At first he wished to drink sherry, but I
begged him to do no such thing, telling him that sherry would do him no
good, under the present circumstances; nor, indeed, to the best of my
belief under any, it being of all wines the one for which I entertained
the most contempt. The landlord allowed himself to be dissuaded, and,
after a glass or two of ale, confessed that sherry was a sickly
disagreeable drink, and that he had merely been in the habit of taking it
from an idea he had that it was genteel. Whilst quaffing our beverage,
he gave me an account of the various mortifications to which he had of
late been subject, dwelling with particular bitterness on the conduct of
Hunter, who he said came every night and mouthed him, and afterwards went
away without paying for what he had drank or smoked, in which conduct he
was closely imitated by a clan of fellows who constantly attended him.
After spending several hours at the public-house I departed, not
forgetting to pay for the two bottles of ale. The landlord, before I
went, shaking me by the hand, declared that he had now made up his mind
to stick to h