material, the value of all of which, hardly
reached six hundred and fifty pounds. As a
matter of course, I was delighted with the
offer, but I did not let the Australian see this.
On the contrary, I pretended that the property
had cost me upwards of three thousand pounds,
and that I could not let it go for less, reiterating
the old story, that I would far rather
mortgage than sell, for I was only in want of a
temporary loan, and so forth. The fact was
that I wanted, if possible, to get an increase
even on the price of two thousand four hundred
pounds, and. to secure this I got a friend to
write me a letter, offering me two thousand
eight hundred pounds for the lease and the
houses, one thousand pounds to be paid in cash,
one thousand pounds in three months, and the
balance in six. To Mr. Andrews this stratagem
served as a clincher. He at once offered me
two thousand six hundred pounds in cash for
the property, and the very same day we
exchanged letters, which were to be considered as
binding the bargain on both parties until the
legal transfer could be made out. Thus I netted
about five hundred per cent for the money I
had invested in this speculation.

But my bargain with this Australian gentleman
—who, by the way, has since barely realised
three per cent on the money he paid me and
on what he laid out to complete the buildings—
does not by any means represent the nature of
my dealings in general. I wish it did. If
it had, I should never have found myself in the
Gazette. The sale of which I have given the
details was one in a hundred. I often
succeeded in raising more money upon buildings
and upon land leases than I had laid out on
the property; but, on the other hand, what
with paying for discounts, paying others to
accept bills for me, and extra expenses in raising
money at high rates, I invariably found myself
behind the world. I had a small but comfortable
house of my own at Dalston, and it was
pretty well furnished. This I had settled upon
my wife when we married, so that I felt safe as
to our always having a roof over our heads,
no matter how the wind might blow. And
very glad I was that this precaution had been
taken, when one fine day I had to read in the
list of bankrupts my own name: " William
Johnson, Cross-road, Dalston, and Stowe-street,
Camden-town, builder and brickmaker, to
surrender at the Bankruptcy Court, Basinghall-
street, on the 3rd April."

I cannot in truth say that this announcement
and event had been unexpected. For a long
time I had seen that things were very fast
going to the bad, and that unless my creditors
would agree to take about a shilling in the
pound of all that I owed them, I must, as they
say in New York, " crack up." But before
resolving what to do I went to see a solicitor,
whose practice in bankruptcy was extensive,
and who was famous for pulling men through
the Basinghall-street court, even when their
affairs were very shady. His advice to me was
concise, but very determined. " Don't go bothering
about deeds and rubbish of that sort," he
said, " go in for bankruptcy, file your petition,
make a clearance of all that hampers you, and
begin again fresh." And I followed his councils.
I had ready money enough to pay all legal
expenses, and these went down as " assets" in my
schedule. This at once put me on the best
footing with my solicitor, and with all the
minor officials who had to handle my affairs.
The process was by no means difficult.
Accompanied by my solicitor I went to the
Bankruptcy Court, and there we had to go from one
office to another, signing papers here and there
with various officials. I had about one hundred
pounds at my bankers, of this I received sixty
pounds to live on whilst I was going through.
the process of whitewashing; allowing forty
pounds to go into my schedule as " assets," for
"appearance-sake," as my lawyer said. When
my accounts were made up, they stood as follows:
to creditors, unsecured, five thousand four
hundred and forty pounds sixteen shillings and
fourpence; to creditors, secured, one thousand two
hundred and sixty-two pounds six shillings and
eightpence; liabilities on bills of exchange, six
hundred and forty pounds fourteen shillings and
fourpence  making seven thousand three
hundred and forty-three pounds seventeen shillings
and fourpence which I owed; and against it I
had property given up, forty pounds two shillings
and tenpence; good debts, three hundred and
forty-seven pounds sixteen shillings and
twopence; bad debts, two thousand and seventy-
one pounds four shillings and a penny; property
in hands of creditors, one thousand two hundred
and sixty-two pounds six shillings and eightpence,
being a total of two thousand four hundred
and fifty-nine pounds three shillings and a penny;
of which two thousand and seventy-one pounds
four shillings and a penny being bad debts (and
very bad debts they were), were as nil. When
I came to make a clean breast of my affairs, and
to show them up officially, as it were, for
investigation, I confess that my courage failed
me, and I expressed as much to my solicitor.
But that gentleman told me not to be an idiot.
"I took a party through the court last week,"
he said, " who had twelve thousand pounds debts,
and no assets whatever; and he got through as
clear as twopence, and is now hard at work
again at his trade." With this I plucked up
courage, and began to think that, after all, my
affairs did not look so black as I had thought
at first.

But black or not black, I had to go through
with the work now that I had taken it in hand;
and bad as the process was, it had certain
crumbs of comfort for the desolate. For
instance, when I filed my petition there were two
or three judgments out against me; and one
creditor in particular, knowing that he could
not put an execution into my house, as the
furniture was settled on my wife, was determined
to arrest my person. He tried very hard
to do so for some days, whilst I on the other
hand tried as hard, and more successfully, to
avoid the sheriffs' officers. For more than a