Every prisoner in distress is welcome to share his money while it lasts; and his wife never fails, while it is in her power, to relieve the wretched; so that their generosity, even in this miserable disguise, is universally respected by their neighbours.

Sometimes the recollection of their former rank comes over them like a qualm, which they dispel with brandy, and then humorously rally one another on their mutual degeneracy.
She often stops me in the walk, and, pointing to the captain, says, 'My husband, though he is become a blackguard jail-bird, must be allowed to be a handsome fellow still.'-- On the other hand, he will frequently desire me to take notice of his rib, as she chances to pass.--'Mind that draggle-tailed drunken drab,' he will say; 'what an antidote it is--yet, for all that, Felton, she was a fine woman when I married her--Poor Bess, I have been the ruin of her, that is certain, and deserve to be d--ned for bringing her to this pass.' "Thus they accommodate themselves to each other's infirmities, and pass their time not without some taste of plebeian enjoyment--but, name their child, they never fail to burst into tears, and still feel a return of the most poignant sorrow." Sir Launcelot Greaves did not hear this story unmoved.

Tom Clarke's cheeks were bedewed with the drops of sympathy, while, with much sobbing, he declared his opinion, that an action should lie against the lady's father.
Captain Crowe having listened to the story with uncommon attention, expressed his concern that an honest seaman should be so taken in stays; but he imputed all his calamities to the wife.

"For why ?" said he; "a seafaring man may have a sweetheart in every port; but he should steer clear of a wife, as he would avoid a quicksand .-- You see, brother, how this here Clewline lags astern in the wake of a snivelling b---h; otherwise he would never make a weft in his ensign for the loss of a child--odds heart! he could have done no more if he had sprung a top-mast, or started a timber." The knight declaring that he would take another view of the prison in the afternoon, Mr.Felton insisted upon his doing him the honour to drink a dish of tea in his apartment, and Sir Launcelot accepted his invitation.
Thither they, accordingly repaired, after having made another circuit of the jail, and the tea-things were produced by Mrs.Felton, when she was summoned to the door, and in a few minutes returning, communicated something in a whisper to her husband.

He changed colour, and repaired to the staircase, where he was heard to talk aloud in an angry tone.
When he came back, he told the company he had been teased by a very importunate beggar.