We took a dram of rum and enter’d into discourse with one another, on different subjects; for as a tavern or alehouse-keeper endeavors to promote his trade, by conforming to the humours of every customer, so was I forc’d to be pleasant with every one, and bear a bob with them in almost all their sorts of discourse, tho’ never so contrary and disagreeable to my own inclinations; otherwise I should have fallen under an odium with them, and once that happens to be the case with any poor man, the lord have mercy upon him, for then every rascally fellow will let loose his brutal fancy upon him…artificially raised by drinking, passion, &c.
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| — | Captain George Roberts, describing both the bar business and his experience being held prisoner by the pirate Ned Low in 1721. |
