| For bacon .. .. .. | 1 halfpenny. |
| For liquor .. .. .. | 1 shilling. |
No wonder then, with habits like these, that the efforts of his patron, in fixing him, were rendered of no avail. Instead of rising to that station his great talent would have led to, he fell by his dissolute conduct to the lowest depths of misery and wretchedness. In his wretched working-room was executed the most splendid specimens of binding; and here on the same shelf were mixed together old shoes and precious leaves—bread and cheese, with the most valuable and costly of MSS. or early-printed books.
That he was characteristic or eccentric may be judged by what has been related of him. He appears to have also been a poet on the subject of his unfortunate propensity, as the following extract from a copy of verses sent with a bill to Mr. Evans, for binding "Barry on the Wines of the Ancients," proves.
"Homer the bard, who sung in highest strains
The festive gift, a goblet for his pains;
Falernian gave Horace, Virgil fire,
And Barley Wine my British Muse inspire.
Barley Wine first from Egypt's learned shore;
And this the gift to me of Calvert's store."