On going my rounds one day, I met accidentally with captain Chaffers.  This gentleman either was or had been in the West India employ.  His heart had beaten in sympathy with mine, and he had greatly favoured our cause.  He had seen me at Mr. Norris’s, and learned my errand there.  He told me he could introduce me in a few minutes, as we were then near at hand, to captain Lace, if I chose it.  Captain Lace, he said, had been long in the Slave-trade, and could give me very accurate information about it.  I accepted his offer.  On talking to captain Lace, relative to the productions of Africa, he told me that mahogany grew at Calabar.  He began to describe a tree of that kind, which he had seen there.  This tree was from about eighteen inches to two feet in diameter, and about sixty feet high, or, as he expressed it, of the height of a tall chimney.  As soon as he mentioned Calabar, a kind of horror came over me.  His name became directly associated in my mind with the place.  It almost instantly occurred to me, that he commanded the Edgar out of Liverpool, when the dreadful massacre there, as has been related, took place.  Indeed I seemed to be so confident of it, that, attending more to my feelings than to my reason at this moment, I accused him with being concerned in it.  This produced great confusion among us.  For he looked incensed at captain Chaffers, as if he had introduced me to him for this purpose.  Captain Chaffers again seemed to be all astonishment that I should have known of this circumstance, and to be vexed that I should have mentioned it in such a manner.  I was also in a state of trembling myself.  Captain Lace could only say it was a bad business.  But he never defended himself, nor those concerned in it.  And we soon parted, to the great joy of us all.

Soon after this interview I began to perceive that I was known in Liverpool, as well as the object for which I came.  Mr. Coupland, the slave-merchant, with whom I had disputed at Mr. Norris’s house, had given the alarm to those who were concerned in the trade, and captain Lace, as may be now easily imagined, had spread it.  This knowledge of me and of my errand was almost immediately productive of two effects, the first of which I shall now mention.

I had a private room at the King’s Arms tavern, besides my bed-room, where I used to meditate and to write.  But I generally dined in public.  The company at dinner had hitherto varied but little as to number, and consisted of those, both from the town and country, who had been accustomed to keep up a connection with the house.  But now things were altered, and many people came to dine there daily with a view of seeing me, as if I had been some curious creature imported from foreign parts.  They thought also, they could thus have an opportunity of conversing with me.  Slave-merchants and slave-captains came in among others for this purpose.  I had observed this difference in the number of our company for two