University of Virginia Library

LETTER XII.

You may well suppose that a
three years lawsuit was a very expensive
undertaking on both sides; and you will
wonder how the foresters, circumstanced
as they were, could struggle with such an
antagonist; especially when the high way
was so obstructed that they could not carry
their provisions to market to procure
them cash. The truth is, that though
they were served gratis by their prime
counsellor, yet they were obliged to give

promissory notes to the attornies, scriveners,
bailiffs, and messengers, whom they
employed under him; but as the prospect
of payment was distant, the notes
passed at a discount, and the only remedy
in their power was to issue more, which
instead of lessening increased the difficulty.

They had early foreseen this difficulty,
and applied privately to Mr. Lewis, Mr.
Frog, and Lord Strut, to borrow money
on interest. These old curmudgeons,
though each of them looked with an envious
eye on Mr. Bull, and secretly wished
he might lose the cause, yet were induced
by various considerations to evade
the question proposed to them by the
foresters. “We must, said they, keep
up appearances with our old neighbour;
we have accounts open with him, as well
as claims upon some portions of land, to
which our title is no better than his; we
may draw ourselves into a scrape, and fet

our own tenants a bad example, for who
knows but the same arguments may avail
with them to refuse their rents to us? Besides,
how do we know whether these fellows
will ever be able to pay? They offer
to mortgage the manor to us, but the
title is yet in dispute, and how do we know
whether it be theirs or Mr. Bull's?”
These were the secret reasons which induced
them to evade a direct answer to
the messengers; and, like true courtiers,

But as soon as the verdict was given at
Saratoga hall, they began to change their
mind, and wish not only to make them
debtors, but even to enter into contracts
to a large amount.

Mr. Lewis was the first to make advances,
and meeting the messengers one
day on 'change, he accosted them thus:
“Your servant gentlemen—I congratulate
you on your success; you are welcome to

my house, and warehouse, and table. I
will lend you a few livres to help you to
finish the controversy; and if Mr. Frog
will advance a few stivers, I will give him
my bond for security. Besides, I will
consent that my own counsellors, barristers,
and attornies, whom I have retained,
shall assist you at the next session, and I
will see if I cannot open the high way,
that you may bring your produce to market.
When you see Lord Strut, give my
compliments to him, and tell him what I
have promised, and I dare say he will,
out of friendship to me, and for the sake
of our old family compact, give you some
assistance; for look ye, gentlemen, I will
be honest with you, I mean to promote
my own interest by serving you, and I am
sure he has the same meaning.”

This change in the sentiments and language
of Mr. Lewis was immediately made
known to Mr. Bull, by means of some
running sootmen, who frequently carried

news from one house to the other. Consternation
seized the whole family, and
Mrs. Bull herself began to think it a very
serious matter, and that it was necessary
to do something immediately to prevent
worse consequences. She therefore held
a curtain conference with Mr. Bull on
the subject, thus—

Mrs. B. Well, my dear, what do you
think of the conduct of your neighbour
Lewis?

Mr. B. Why I think he is a deceitful
dog and means to ruin me. If these
fellows get him for their friend, he will
draw in Lord Strut and Nic Frog, and I
shall have them all to contend with at
once; and therefore I think we had better
compromise the matter with the tenants
and let them take the land, if they
will, and go to the D—l; why should I
keep on throwing away good money after
bad; I am damnably in debt now, and

I wish to stop where I am, without getting
any deeper into the law.

Mrs. B. I agree with you, my dear,
that he is a deceitful dog, and I wish the
tenants could know his true character; if
they did, I am persuaded they would not
put any confidence in him. There is a
number of very sensible persons among
them, and by the discourse which I have
had with some who know their secrets, I
believe that means might yet be found to
divide them, and to detach them from the
interest of Lewis; and if you will let me
manage the matter, I have no doubt that
I shall be able to accomplish it.

Poor John setched a deep sigh, and
said inwardly—Ah, I have let you manage
my matters so long, that you have almost
brought me to ruin! Then raising his
voice and wiping his eyes, he replied, Well,
my dear, I have told you my mind plainly,
but if you think you can do any thing to

save me, pray be speedy; I would gladly
keep the tenants attached to me, for the
benefit of their trade, which is a matter of
more consequence than their rent, and if
I should finally lose the land, I wish to be
again connected with them in business.

Mrs. B. Never fear, I do not doubt
but we shall find means to keep the land
and have the trade too. I know how to
sweeten them and bring them to good
humour again.

As soon as this conference was ended,
she wrote a billet in a very complaisant stile,
but in a hand scarcely legible,[1] and was in
such a hurry to send it, that she could not
wait for one of the clerks to copy it, prefenting
Mr. and Mrs. Bull's compliments
to the gentlemen tenants, informing them
that it was not intended to trouble them
any farther for the payment of paper and
pack thread, which had been the occasion
of the controversy; but to settle all matters

by a reference, and that suitable persons
should soon be deputed to confer
with them, or any of them, on the premises.
This billet was hurried away by an
express, and actually arrived before the
foresters had heard of Mr. Lewis's intended
kindness to them. But they received
it with contempt, and gave no
other answer to it than this, “Let Mr.
Bull withdraw his action and clear the
road, and we will talk with him; but as
to his wife, we will have nothing to do
with her.”

After they had given this answer,
word was brought them of the good will
of Mr. Lewis, which was received with
the greatest joy imaginable. He was accounted
the finest gentleman in the whole
country, and all the stories which they
had heard of him through the medium of
Bull's family, were set down as lies. He
was regarded as the protector of the injured,

the helper of the distressed, and
the friend of the rights of mankind.

While the praises of Lewis were thus
echoed from house to house, the deputies
of Madam Bull arrived. They were instructed
by her ladyship to enter into free
conversation with the foresters, or any of
them, publicly or privately; to tell them
that they were greatly deceived if they
took Mr. Lewis for their friend; that he
was an arch, fly, deceitful fellow, and that
no trust ought to be put in him; that
Mr. and Mrs. Bull were very amicably
disposed toward them, and willing to forget
and forgive all that was past, to renew
the former intercourse, to take off all the
charges and burdens which had been
complained of; to help them pay the
debt which they had incurred by the lawfuit;
and as the greatest proof imaginable
of Mrs. Bull's particular favour to them,
she would admit any of them to visit
her in her own drawing room, and give

them a seat at her card table. As a token
of her sincerity in these professions, she
sent several presents to their wives and
daughters, and gave the deputies a large
purse of money to be distributed privately
among the most insluential persons in the
several families.

The deputies had scarcely alighted before
they sent their footman to the door
of the house where the heads of the families
were assembled, with a message of
compliments to announce their arrival,
and ask permission to make a friendly vifit.
The porter refused entrance to the
footman, and he returned, without having
delivered his message. The deputies then
wrote the purport of their errand and sent
it to the porter, who delivered it, and the
following answer was returned—

“Gentlemen, we cannot hear any
invectives against our good friend Mr.
Lewis. If your master is in earnest, tell

him that he must withdraw his action and
clear the road. This is all from your
humble servants,

The Foresters.”

Disappointed and chagrined, but not
wholly discouraged, the deputies attempted
privately to get into some of the
houses; but they were refused entrance.
They wrote letters and threw them in at
the windows, or put them into the key
holes, but all to no purpose. The firmness
and inflexibility of the foresters astonished
them, and they were obliged to
return with aching hearts, and tell their
master and mistress that the forest was lost
forever.

And now was verified the old saying,

But Madam's fury and its consequences,
will be the subject of my
next.

Adieu.