Sentence:  Pawn another man's property for the sake of a meal, eat and drink one's self to perdition, brand one's soul with the first little sear, set the first black mark against one's honour, call one's self a <WSD>blackguard</WSD> to one's own face, and needs must cast one's eyes down before one's self? Never! never! 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A scoundrel; an unprincipled contemptible person; an untrustworthy person.