165 



no week days, and as he had heard the parson say 

 that Sunday ought to be a day of rest, he made a 

 point of doing nothing at all on that day. He 

 praised his former master, of whose son he was now 

 the property, and said that neither of them had 

 ever occasion to lay a finger on him. He worked 

 as a waterman, and paid his master ten shillings a 

 week, the rest of his earnings being his own profit j 

 and when he owed wages for three months, if he 

 brought two his master would always give him 

 time for the remainder, and that in so kind a man- 

 ner, that he always fretted himself to think that so 

 kind a master should wait for his rights, and worked 

 twice as hard till the debt was discharged. He 

 said that kindness was the only way to make good 

 negroes, and that, if that failed, flogging would never 

 succeed ; and he advised me, when I found my 

 negro worthless, " to sell him at once, and not stay 

 to flog him, and so, by spoiling his appearance, 

 make him sell for less; for blacks must not be 

 treated now, massa, as they used to be ; they can 

 think, and hear, and see, as well as white people : 

 blacks are wiser, massa, than they were, and will 

 soon be still wiser." I thought the fellow himself 

 was a good proof of his assertion. 



I left Kingston at two o'clock, in defiance of a 

 broiling sun ; reached Spanish Town in time to 

 dine with the Attorney-General ; and went after- 

 wards to the play, where I found my acquaintance 

 Mr. Hill of Covent Garden theatre performing Lord 



m 3 



