I HAVE the Happiness to be Tenant to Sir George English, and there is not one among them who has a more hearty Affection for him and his whole Family, than I have. When this Estate (which he now enjoys, and which, Hea­ven grant, he and his may long enjoy) was first left to him, by the general Attorn­ment of the Tenants, and the Consent and Act of brave Sir William, his An­cestor, [Page 2] I had the pleasure, as a Witness and a Tenant, to sign the Instrument my self: I saw good Sir William ratify it, I be­held him soon after expire, and could discern a pleasing Satisfaction in his Fea­tures, rising from the Comfort he received in having finished what he believed must make his Tenants the happiest and most easy of any People in our whole County. You will forgive me, Sir, that I thus dwell on the Praise of my good old Master Sir William: He was a Man who loved his whole Species, who had a ge­neral Benevolence to Mankind; he did not think any Man was born for himself alone, nor could he bear to see any of his neighbouring Landlords use their Te­nants ill, or rack them too high; and more than once he has engaged himself in ex­pensive Law-suits, to deliver them from the Hands of the Oppressor. Mr. Lyn, of whom I now complain to you, Sir, was one of the Tenants; and tho' his lit­tle Copy-hold was then not much in re­pair, and a little incumbered with Debts, however it has been since improved, he [Page 3] professed himself very zealous, as well as the rest of us, in the Interest of our Land­lord, and continued so some Years: But Time proves every thing; and a very lit­tle while after he was appointed Steward to our old Master, he began to shew himself; and tho' the Affairs of Sir George grew every day worse and worse under his Management, the Affairs of Mr. Lyn grew better and better every day. He began to look plump and round; his little Farm was clear of all Incum­brances; his Family, his Friends, his Relations, his Acquaintance, all grew plump likewise, and flourished under his Influence: He had indeed been very libe­ral to them, not out of his own Money, but his Master's; He put them into all the Employments he could find in the several Manors, and very frequently, when there was no Employment rea­dy, or open, or unenjoy'd by any Re­lation, Friend, or Dependent of his, he was ready to erect an Office, and to give it a Name and an Appointment out of his Master's Rents, without any Con­sideration [Page 4] how much his Master was in debt, how detrimental it must prove to his Estate, or how ungrateful it was to the Tenants, who saw, and murmured to see, that their Farms were racked to the highest, to support the Family, and other Self-Interests of Mr. Lyn. Well, Sir, our Steward grew rich, he grew am­bitious and vain, and haughty, and humorous; and now took it into his Head, that he was as accomplish'd a Gentleman even as Sir George himself, and would needs be stiled his Compa­nion: He dress'd himself up in Blue, and used to strut about in Pearl Co­lour Stockings, a Silk Doublet, and a Cap and Feather, and fancy'd he had enrolled himself among Heroes and Gods, so hard it is for a Man in Prosperity to check the Folly of a vain Mind; some time before this whim of bedecking himself in Taffaty and Blue, he had a Fancy to appear in Red; and accordingly one Morning with a very solemn and grave Countenance, he told several of his Intimate [...] [Page 5] that now he was grown rich, he was resol­ved to devote himself to the Service of Religion, as a Knight-Errant; that he would rescue Virgins, protect Orphans, destroy Giants, and do every thing praise-worthy, and becoming the great Office of true Chivalry; he exhorted his Friends likewise, who were very honest Men, and meant well, to do the same, and told them their Habiliments ought to be all a­like. viz. Red Taffaty, Spurs, Feathers, Caps, Faulchions, &c. So said, so done, they dress'd themselves, they swore on the Evangelists to be good and true Knights, they march'd in an affected Stage-strut round the Town, and made a Shew in their whimsical Dresses that set all the Parish in a Gape. Now one wou'd imagine that Mr. Lyn was about to make amends for all his Mismanagement, and that the World, as it had been the worse for him, would be the better too: But this was only a Joke it seems; for as soon as ever he had persuad­ed his Companions to this, on a sudden he whipt off his Red Taffaty Doublet, and put on a blue one, as I have said, and [Page 6] called himself his Master's Fellow, to the great Surprize of every one. But these Frolicks, you will say, might only take Birth from the jocund Levities of a Head a little giddy with Prosperity, the plaisom Gaities, the dulce desipere of a Heart swol­len with Joy and Power. We will go on then to consider him only in his Character of Steward.

Mr. LYN was no sooner got into the Stewardship, but he with very great As­surance told his Master, that none of his Tenants had any hearty Affection for him, but himself and his Sons, his Brother Townly and his Sons, with their Rela­tions and Intimates; that if it were not for his and their Management, Sir George would not be able to make any thing of the Estate. And Isaac Tombrel, a Re­lation to a Relation of Mr. Lyn's by Marriage, had the Assurance to affirm be­fore young Squire English, Sir George's eldest Son, at Dinner at the Mansion House in Leicestershire, that the Preser­vation of Sir George's whole Estate [Page 7] was owing to Mr. Lyn; for which, and other unmannerly and indecent Expres­sions, he was rebuked, disgraced, and sent back into Norfolk. Indeed Mr. Lyn used frequently in publick to applaud himself for his good Management of the Estate, and to pronounce himself with great Authority, the only Man in Eng­land who knew how to keep a Rental. He went farther, and frequently declared that was it not for him, and his great Art and Skill, the Tenants would not pay their Rents, that they would forget all Respect and Duty to Sir George, or join with Squire Welsh in the Law-suit against him. Tho' Squire Welsh and his Law-suit and Prenten­sions were very low and despised, and al­most forgot by every body; yet Mr. Lyn always endeavour'd to make his court to his Master, by assuring him, that seve­ral of his Tenants, those I mean who held the largest Farms, and whose Hearts were always with Sir George, were secretly Fa­vourers of the Pretensions of Mr. Wel­sh; this, Sir, indeed appears to me one of Mr. [Page 8] Lyn's greatest Iniquities, as I think a Pick-thank in a Family is most odious Character. But he was resolved to support his Power at the Expence of every thing; and now finding himself, as he imagin'd, at least in Trust and Confidence with his Master, (which we his poor Tenants hope is not real­ly the Case) he raised his Crest, and threw out his natural Bronze. And as Insolence is ever the Mark of a little Mind, tho' conscious to himself of more Crimes than any Man but himself can discover, he slighted his Superiors and despised his Op­ponents. The Parish-Officers, the Asses­sors and Collectors of the Land-Tax, the Constables, Portreve, and Jurymen, were all his Creatures, Relations, Dependents or Subdependents, such whose Corrup­tion and Consciences he could depend up­on. Thus furnished, thus guarded and supported, he ventur'd on, he levy'd Mo­ney upon the Tenants on the most ridicu­lous Pretence: an old Bridge was to be re­paired, a new one to be built, the Parish wanted a Set of Bells, a new Pair of Stocks must be provided; he made them [Page 9] contribute to the keeping several Packs of Hounds; and sometimes Master Lyn wou'd demand a round Sum of Money for private Uses, and such as were by no means proper to be known to the Te­nants.

SIR George has a Park where his Te­nants have Time out of Mind been per­mitted to recreate and refresh at leisure Hours, as often as they pleased; and thro' this Park many of them are oblig'd to pass every Day to their Grounds; Mr. Lyn, who valued himself on his Genius for raising Money, order'd his own Man to stand before the Park-Gate, and levy a Penny for the Passage of every Man, when Business or Diversions oblig'd him to pass that way; and this too under the Pretence of setting up a pair of Gates only, tho' the Money levy'd would new pale the whole Park. And this I mention only to shew you how ready he is at Undertakings of this kind.

[Page 10] HOWEVER, notwithstanding all the Discouragements that the Tenants lay under, they might have thriven even under the Stewardship of Mr. Lyn, if he had not with the utmost Art and Application laboured to prevent it. The two greatest and known Enemies to Industry and Trade, are Luxury and Gaming: these he careful­ly encouraged; and in order to this, he in­vited the Tenants to a large Gaming-table which had been erected indeed in another Robinocracy, in the very middle of the Market-Place. To this Gaming-table the Tenants, when they had disposed of their Wooll, their Corn, &c. all hurry'd; and as there is in most Men a Lust after inordi­dinate Gain, many of them play'd, and every Day left behind them the Labours of their Industry. But Mr. Lyn, ever pro­vident for himself, took care that this should turn to his Advantage; for (tho' he never appeared there himself) he always employ'd a few faithful Confidents to play for him, and allow'd them to share in some Parts of the Spoil. It was always his Method when [Page 11] he play'd thus by Deputy, to use loaded Dice, either high or low as he fancy'd; and when some of the Tenants, who by dear Experience were now grown very peery, observ'd Mr. Lyn's Dice in play, they would very artfully, as they imagin'd, set their Dice accordingly; that is, if they ob­served Mr. Lyn used high Dice, they set expecting them to run high, and so low, when they saw his Dice run low; but when the Stakes were deep enough to invite Mr. Lyn's Acceptance, they were always invi­sibly changed upon them; and he was by this ingenious Artifice Master of Part of the Property of the Tenants. And as of­ten as he pleased, by this he amassed Wealth, by this means the Manufactures of our Country are very much hurt, and our Trade decreases. This is at present the Case un­der our most righteous Steward; and they tell me, there is nothing he delights in at this Hour, so much as Gaming by Proxy, and Fox-Hunting.

I Believe my last hath convinc'd you that Mr. Lyn's management of Sir George's Domestick Affairs, was full as extraordina­ry as that of his Lawsuits with his Neigh­bours. But perhaps you will wonder that [Page 14] he should be suffer'd to go on so long in these Practices; that he hath not been con­stantly presented every Court-day for so ma­ny repeated Misdoings; or that even all the Tenants of the Mannor do not unanimously make it their request to Sir George (whose Ears are always open to their Complaints) that he would be pleased to remove a Stew­ard whose Mananagement is generally dis­liked and complained of by all the Tenants. But your Surprize will vanish when you recollect what I have told you in both my former Letters; that all the Prime Officers both of the Parish and the Mannor, as well as most of the Jurymen, were his own Re­lations or Creatures; that a great number of the principal Tenants were bribed into his In­terest, and that many others, who had ho­nest Intentions, were afraid to oppose a Man, who had it in his Power to raise their Rent, distrain their Goods, or turn them out of their Farms at Pleasure, by representing them as bad Tenants or Enemies to their Landlord; tho' these very People were the best affect­ed [Page 15] to their Landlord, tho' they paid their Rents punctually, and had no other deme­rit, but that they faithfully adhered to what they conceived to be the true Interest of Sir George. In short, it is the peculiar Character of Mr. Lyn, That when he took up a Prejudice, however unreasonable, a­gainst any of the Tenants, he always made it a POINT (as he call'd it) to ruin them with Sir George, and stuck at nothing to compass his End.

YET notwithstanding all this Power, and this extravagant Use of it, there are many Persons of considerable Interest and Figure in the Mannor, who have constant­ly opposed him in all these Proceedings, and have, at present, the Pleasure to see a gene­ral Spirit of Resentment rising against him. The Number of his Opponents increases dai­ly; whilst many, some even of those, who are obliged to act with him, are frequently heard to murmur against his Proceed­ings, in publick as well as private; and others who eat his Bread, as he is inso­lently [Page I6] pleased to call it, Sir George's Bread, the Tenants Bread he means, hang down their Heads; and conscious of their Crime in not opposing his Measures, plead guilty to the Charge against him in their Silence.

THE Freemen of the Town, where Sir George lives himself, are heartily, almost universally, incensed against him, on divers Accounts; particularly for having introdu­ced several New Customs amongst them; for always interposing his Authority in their Elections of Parish-Officers; for making them pay more for their Fewel than the rest of the Tenants; for refusing to read a Letter written in their behalf, on this Ac­count, and replying with an insolent Air, That he did not care a F—t for the whole Town.

GREAT Numbers of poor Trades­men, who supplied the late Sir George with Necessaries, are ready to starve for want of the Money, he died in arrear to them on that Account; which is the more extraordinary, because Sir George had always a sufficient Income to keep [Page 17] a noble Houfe, and pay every body, as indeed he seem'd always inclinable to do; from whence they conclude, That Mr. Lyn embezzled great Sums himself, and squandered away others, for his own Va­nity and Grandeur, amongst a worse kind of TRADESMEN than they are. Nay, what adds to the Provocation is, That Mr. Lyn will not satisfy them whe­ther they shall ever be paid or not.

THE neighbouring Country Gentlemen complain of him for engrossing the Game, and forbidding them to hunt, or ride in Sir George's PARKS, as they used to do.

THE Clergy charging him with recom­mending Men of slow Parts for Preferment in the Church to old Sir George, when any Livings fell; of which there was a great Number, during his Life and the Steward­ship of Mr. Lyn.

THE Yeomanry grumble for want of Money, the Manufacturers for want of Business, and the poor Labourers for want of Bread; and all impute their Misfortunes, I [Page 18] think, after what has been said, not very unjustly, to Mr. Lyn, by engaging old Sir George in a needless, expensive and chimerical Law-suit, and thereby preventing the usual Circulation of Money in Commerce, by di­verting it into other Channels.

IN short, all Ranks of Men (except a few particular Creatures of his own) seem to have their respective Complaints against him, and unite in their Wishes for a new Steward.

NAY, we have a current Report about the Country, that our present Landlord (who is a Gentleman of great Penetration, and applies himself very much to Business) hath been, for some time, of the same Opi­nion with his Tenants; and altho it may not be convenient to discharge him at present, at least till his Accounts, which are in the ut­most Confusion, are audited and settled, yet it is certain that he hath already clipt his Wings, and so short too, that he is unable to take his former Flights.

THIS hath a little sunk his Crest, and soften'd his Behaviour to his Fellow-Tenants, [Page 19] tho' he still endeavours to keep up his usual Spirit of Defiance; but we can easily ob­serve, from the frequent Tremulation of his Voice, the faultring of his Accents, his Loss of Temper and Confusion in his Sentences, that he is inwardly very much chagrined and di­sturb'd.

YOU may remember, I told you, in my first, that Sir George's Estate (when he came to it) was charged with an heavy Debt: And that when Mr. Lyn was call'd upon to give an Account of the great Sums of Money, which had passed thro' his Hands, he always refused to do it, and endeavoured to make a Jest of those who demanded it. But at length, the general Clamour obliged him to consent to some Examination; upon which it appears, even by his own Account, that his Master's Estate is so far from being the better for his Management, according to his former re­peated Declarations, that it is several hundred Pounds more in debt, than it was before he came into the Stewardship, notwithstanding the great Sums which ought to have been yearly applied towards paying it off.

[Page 20] BUT his manner of stating Accounts is so very extraordinary, that I believe you will think it worth relating.

Mr. Lyn hath always boasted, that the Family-Debt was very much diminished within these ten or eleven Years past, and de­fied his Enemies to prove the contrary. Now, in order to see whether this was true or not, it was proposed, first, to state the Debt, as it stood eleven Years ago, is all its Branches. Then to deduct from it the se­veral yearly Sums, which have, or ought to have been paid out of a certain strong Box, where the Savings from the Rents, after the Expences of the Family were paid, were constantly laid up, to discharge part of the Mortgage upon the Estate, as it was appoint­ed to do since that time; and afterwards to compute the whole Debt, of every kind, which the Family owes at present. It was agreed, I think, that the Debt, eleven Years ago, amounted to about 51000 l. The strong Box was said to have produced, since that time, about 7000 l. which reduces the Debt (had no farther Debt been incurred, as the Phrase in vogue is) to 44000; and, in what­ever [Page 21] degree the present Debt should appear to be less than that Sum, so much, and no more, ought to be allowed to be really diminished, since that Time, by the Management of Mr. Lyn; since he could not pretend to arrogate to himself the Merit of paying any Sums, which would have paid themselves had he let them alone.

THIS seem'd to be a fair Proposal, as it was generally esteemed; but fair as it was, Mr. Lyn demurred to it. At first, indeed, he crack'd, bluster'd, and defy'd, as usual; at length, with much Difficulty, he agreed to give in some Account. Accordingly he gave in his own State of the Account; and a Day was appointed for the Enquiry; when that came, he made a considerable Alteration in his own Account. And having after­wards acknowledged that he had quite forgot several other considerable Sums of the Debt contracted, he run his usual Circle; he as­serted, affirmed, deny'd, was positive, was every thing but intelligible; he talk'd in short till he had not only made himself but many of his Hearers giddy. There is not, perhaps, so great a Master in Europe of the [Page 22] grand Art of Bambousle as Mr. Lyn: The Debt (said he) is incurred, but not increa­sed; there are real Debts and nominal Debts; there are real nominal Debts, and nominal real Debts; there were real Debts and per­sonal Debts, which the Family must pay; there are Debts never-stated tho 'incurred, and Debts which tho' incurred and stated, might never be paid; so that upon the whole you see I have paid off a considerable part of the Mortgage upon Sir George's Estate: But when he was told, that tho' it was true that part of the Norfolk Mortgage was paid off, yet Sir George was really now as much in debt as before, because Mr. Lyn, to per­form this mighty Deed, had borrow'd just as much upon Sir George's Estate in Leicester­shire, as he had paid off in Norfolk, so that the Ballance continued as before; he broke into a loud Laugh, and told the Tenants they knew nothing of Accounts, nor the diffe­rence between a Debt incurred and a Debt increased.

BY the Help of these Distinctions, and this Jumble of Sophistries, he struck off one Article of above three thousand Pounds, which [Page 23] he asserted to be a very good Bargain to the Family; another of almost two thousand, because it was owing to very bad Manage­ment; and a third of one thousand, for no o­ther Reason, that I could hear, than that he did not know how to justify the contracting of it, or in what manner to provide for its Payment.

HE had also the Modesty to place ano­ther considerable Sum amongst the Debts dis­charged, within that Time; which ought really to have been placed amongst those in­curred.

IT is likewise worth observing, that Mr. Lyn had previously taken care to puzzle and perplex the Accounts as much as possible, in order to secure himself from Detection, by chopping and changing the Securities into different Hands; borrowing of one to pay off another; turning Interest into Principal, and Principal into Interest; with a thousand other Arts and Stratagems of the same kind; so that he had a manifest Advantage over Those who were not in the Secret.

[Page 24] NAY, what is still more extraordinary, he stated his Account of Debts contracted to Christmas last only; whereas he calculated the Sum of Debts discharged to Lady-day next; a Method of stating and ballancing Accounts, which was never before practised or heard of in these Parts!

AND yet after all these Finesses and Fal­lacies, and arbitrary Postulata, the present Family-Debt evidently appear'd to be, just as it was eleven Years ago, fifty one thousand Pounds, or thereabouts.

THO' it is generally believed here, that this Affair will not redound much to the Credit of Mr. Lyn; yet it must be con­fessed, that his Arithmetical Capacity is really admirable, and that he hath proved him­self, beyond all Contradiction, to be a complete Master of Addition, as well as Substraction.

To be continued as the Steward goes on.