or three days.  Dale, the master of the tavern, had observed it also, and told me in a good-natured manner, that, many of these were my visitors, and that I was likely to bring him a great deal of custom.  In a little time however things became serious; for they, who came to see me, always started the abolition of the Slave-trade as the subject for conversation.  Many entered into the justification of this trade with great warmth, as if to ruffle my temper, or at any rate to provoke me to talk.  Others threw out, with the same view, that men were going about to abolish it, who would have done much better if they had staid at home.  Others said they had heard of a person turned mad, who had conceived the thought of destroying Liverpool, and all its glory.  Some gave as a toast, Success to the Trade, and then laughed immoderately, and watched me when I took my glass to see if I would drink it.  I saw the way in which things were now going, and I believed it would be proper that I should come to some fixed resolutions; such as, whether I should change my lodgings, and whether I should dine in private; and if not, what line of conduct it would become me to pursue on such occasions.  With respect to changing my lodgings and dining in private, I conceived, if I were to do either of these things, that I should be showing an unmanly fear of my visitors, which they would turn to their own advantage.  I conceived too, that, if I chose to go on as before, and to enter into conversation with them on the subject of the abolition of the Slave-trade, I might be able, by having such an assemblage of persons daily, to gather all the arguments which they could collect on the other side of our question, an advantage which I should one day feel in the future management of the cause.  With respect to the line, which I should pursue in the case of remaining in the place of my abode and in my former habits, I determined never to start the subject of the abolition myself—­never to abandon it when started—­never to defend it but in a serious and dignified manner—­and never to discover any signs of irritation, whatever provocation might be given me.  By this determination I abided rigidly.  The King’s Arms became now daily the place for discussion on this subject.  Many tried to insult me, but to no purpose.  In all these discussions I found the great advantage of having brought Mr. Falconbridge with me from Bristol:  for he was always at the table; and when my opponents, with a disdainful look, tried to ridicule my knowledge, among those present, by asking me if I had ever been on the coast of Africa myself, he used generally to reply, “But I have.  I know all your proceedings there, and that his statements are true.”  These and other words put in by him, who was an athletic and resolute-looking man, were of great service to me.  All disinterested persons, of whom there were four or five daily in the room, were uniformly convinced by our arguments, and took our part, and some of them very warmly.  Day after day we beat our opponents out of the field, as many of the company acknowledged, to their no small mortification, in their presence.  Thus, while we served the cause by discovering all that could be said against it, we served it by giving numerous individuals proper ideas concerning it, and of interesting them in our favour.