I now open' d a little stationer' s shop. I had in it blanks of all sorts, the correctest that ever appear' d among us, being assisted in that by my friend Breintnal. I had also paper, parchment, chapmen' s books, etc. One Whitemash, a compositor I had known in London, an excellent workman, now came to me, and work' d with me constantly and diligently; and I took an apprentice, the son of Aquila Rose.
I began now gradually to pay off the debt I was under for the printinghouse. In order to secure my credit and character as a tradesman, I took care not only to be in reality industrious and frugal, but to avoid all appearances to the contrary. I drest plainly; I was seen at no places of idle diversion. I never went out a fishing or shooting; a book, indeed, sometimes debauch' d me from my work, but that was seldom, snug, and gave no scandal; and, to show that I was not above my business, I sometimes brought home the paper I purchas' d at the stores thro' the streets on a wheelbarrow. Thus being esteem' d an industrious, thriving young man, and paying duly for what I bought, the merchants who imported stationery solicited my custom; others proposed supplying me with books, and I went on swimmingly. In the mean time, Keimer' s credit and business declining daily, he was at last forc' d to sell his printing house to satisfy his creditors. He went to Barbadoes, and there lived some years in very poor circumstances.