Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A81416
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A dialogue between fidelity and honesty alias an informer and a chea[t], formerly familiar friends. Together with the advice of Mr· Friendly and his wife Civility, alias fraud and deceit. With the approbation of the most illustrious Princess Justitia.
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1699
(1699)
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Wing D1310B; ESTC R224938
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22,376
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30
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as in times of War and if you were not obstructed you would carry all before you and our Merchants Ships might lay by the Wall to Eternity for they cannot pretend to sail at that Rate Hon. Prethe don't tell me of them I have told you my mind and I am for getting of Money if I can let them look out that has the watch Fid. So they did by your Discourse and catcht you to your Cost Hon. That 's too true to make a Jest off but saving your Discourse what must I do with this Informer that Prosecutes me Fid. Why do you ask me Hon. Because I am Informed that you have taken up that Imployment and as I was unwilling to believe it so I was troubled to hear that you should undertake such a scandalous and base a Profession which every Honest Man abhors Fid. That 's your mistake for all Honest Men allow and commend it and a great many honest Commanders that have been in your Station do commend me for appearing in so Good so just and Honest a cause And the King and the Law allows and requires and encourages so good a work as the only Antidote against Rogues and Villains so I deny your Assertion I am no Informer Hon. No! Pray who then Informs against my Brother Captain Q. Pray who Informs against me Fid. Why truly you Inform against your self and discover your own Villany tho it is in a Braevado but to tell you plain your Officers and Marriners whom you have cheated and abused they Inform against you not out of Spight or Malice but for Right and Justice and indeed I am imployed by them and do appear as an Advocate to Solicit for the King and them Hon. That is all one you may call your self Advocate or Soliciter or what you please but all of them that you appear against do declare you to be an Informer and truly if my Friendship or any thing that I can do for you may obliged you to decline that scandalous Name I should be very glad to see you Converted Fid. Why do you Account them Honest Men that I appear against Hon. Yes I do and they are Gentlemen of great Honour and Reputation too Fid. Why if they be Honest and Guiltless they need not fear or regard an Informer or Soliciter no nor the Law neither for none of them can or will hurt an Honest Man And if they be Knaves it would be a greater Crime to connive at their Villanies then to complain of their Vices and yet to gratifie you if you will decline Cheating I will leave Informing and that without reward Hon. Well tho you deny the Name of an Informer You own the Name of Soliciter or Advocate and that 's all one they have a dependency one upon another in Prosecuting us and I do hold with several of my Brethren and do say and affirm to your face that you are an Informer Fid. Then so let it be and call me as you please but pray do me the Justice to consider that I am not a petty Vexatious one that Informs against frivolous offenders i. e. Such as relieve distressed Beggars at the Door or those who for Conscience sake refuse to comply in Ceremonies of Religion neither did I ever Inform against those that pick or lick Gold off of Ginger-bread c. Yet I do allow there is a sort of Informers that has brought an odium upon the Profession that are not sit to live in a Civil Government i. e. Horselers and othes Informing High way-men how they may come by a good Booty Servants Informing thieves how and when to Rob their Masters others Informing against their Neighbours for not working or paying towards repairing the High-way where there is none Husbands Informing against there Wives and Women against their Husbands for not going to Mass or not Worshipping God against Reason and Conscience c. Others prying into the Closets of Kings and Princes and then discovering their secrets to their Enemies Treacherous and Cowardly Sea Captains Maliciously Informing against and dismissing others of Courage and Fidelity as was the Case of Captain Desborrow c. Besides I must tell you that every Man that bears any Office under the King and every Parish Officer and every Man upon Juries of Inquest Yea and every Freeman of London are Sworn to be Informers and if so then it can be no Crime in me but an Act of the Highest Justice to Inform against such Villains that has ruin'd Thousands of His Majesties Subjects and Cheated the King and Country to that degree that the whole Nation Groans with the Cries of the oppressed whilst the oppressors Glory and Boast of their Wickedness Besides our Great Lawmakers out of a sence of Duty to their King and Countrey have ordained that Informers shall be Encouraged for Informing against Publick offenders and that purely to prevent or punish Villanies So that an Informer in the proper Sence is an Officer of Justice and a good one too provided he appears more for Justice then Malice So then if I am an Informer I am one of the highest rank and with your leave I 'll wave the Name of Fidelity and Acknowledge my self a faithful Informer provided you will decline the nick Name of Honesty and appear according to your profession by the Name of Publick Cheater and then we 'll proceed if you please but pray let it be without Cavelling Ch. With all my heart but don't bear too hard upon me for I was but one that Acted as others did according to the moad of the times And certainly that could be no great Crime in me to follow the Fashions Besides long custom makes many things both Natural and Lawful which I think you cannot deny In. It may be you take your Pedigree from Cain who was the first that committed the Heinous Sin of murder but if you do that don't make it Lawful or Natural altho some Vicious Men would have it so Pray consider Can any thing be more Notorious in those who were imployed with double Sallaries to defend and preserve the Nation then for them to Rob it and as much as in them lay to ruin it by Plundering what was forbidden by the Law and by abusing and piking off the Seamen and Marriners who are esteemed the Bulwark of the Nation as you have done It is observable that by your Savage and Barbarous Practice above 70000 of them has been driven into the other World and above 100000 more has been quite run out of their Pay during the late War and meerly to gratify your Ambitious and Barbarous Humors Ch. Prethe talk no more of that you have had my Answer now hear me you charge me and my Friends of Murther and Barbarity when every Body knows that the Informers are the greatest Villains and Mutherers in the whole Nation for were it not for them we should have no hanging nor burning of the hand no pilloring whiping or banishing of Men as we had
and her two Friends that came to attend her one of them he threatned to Bind over for speaking in the Widdows Behalf but that not frightning him the Justice thundered him out of Doors and silence the other and the Widdow being Abashed at those rugged Proceedings although her Complaint was confirmed by the Affidavits of several Persons was set aside and thereby my Self and Family were mercifully delivered O Blessed Justice and Mercy Inf. O! I remember that I was there then it was I that was Threatned and thundred out of Doors but that wa'nt Justice that did that he was only called so and that Mercy that was there is a Monster one that will ruine a Thousand good People to gratifie one Friend Che. I suppose he smelt that you were an Informer that made him turn you out of his House for fear that you would have Opened or Explained the Widdows Cause truly I did not care to see you there my self especially when you pray'd Mr. Justice to cast an Eye or look over that Affidavit my Men Swore against me for breaking open the Widdow's Son's Chest truly I was afraid he would have bound me to have answered it which he would certainly have done if he had not been a merciful Man I protest I was glad to see him let fly at you and snatch the Affidavit out of your Hand and throw it one way and send you another I wish'd with all my Heart he would have sent you to Prison Inf. Truly I believe you but I conceive he had more Wit than Justice for if he had Committed me I would have Inform'd against him to that great Lady Justice and have sued him for Satisfaction and that I believe made him afraid to execute his Threats for I 'll tell you that Justice her self has decreed That if any Justice of the Peace shall presume to Commit or Punish any Person contrary to her own Dictates that then in such Cases she will punish them and for that reason she has decreed That none shall execute the Office of a Justice that has not a sufficient Estate to make Satisfaction to those Injured by them many of them has paid Sawce for their Injustice and Partiality Che. Well I don't know what to say to this great Lady Justice that you talk of yet I remember now I have had Business with her my self several times and truly I always received a great deal of Satisfaction from her for I observed that she made no difference between Rich and Poor Noble and Base but decided all Controversies according to the Merits of the Cause Besides I must confess that she has bestowed an Hundred Favours on me by preserving me from Violence and restoring me to my Rites and Priviledges Inf. Why then since you have received so many Favours formerly what makes you fear her now Che. Why truly my Case is different now for then I appeared on the Right side with a good Cause but now I must stand on the Left to answer a bad one which puts me in mind of one of our Captains who not long since was fined an Hundred Pounds for Embezeling the Naval Stores and another you told me of that paid three Hundred Pounds for Cheating the King of his Customs besides the little Gunner that hangs in the Air at Chatham for Embezeling of one Barrel of Gunpowder and rather than I 'll fall under those Sentiments I 'll follow the Example of that great Hero that killed Lieutenant Cole for Informing against him yea I 'll Sacrifice him wheresoever I meet him that dare presume to Inform against me Inf. I must confess that a desperate Disease requires a desperate Cure but alas such desperate Actions does not extinguish but augment the Offence and although you may Imagine such rash and violent Actions are the Ensigns of Courage and Magnanimity yet they are no more than the Effects of Madness and Despair Indeed a Sword is a necessary Companion for a Prudent and well govern'd Man but it is pity that Fools and Madmen should be suffered to wear them I remember t'other Day a Bravado drew his Sword in a great passion but when he see it naked in his Hand he did quiver and shake indeed I put it up for him that time with a Proviso that he should draw it no more in my Company and as for that Hero you speak of I hear he was in Newgate and was Arraigned and found Guilty of Man-slaughter for that barbarous Action which if he had not been a Fool he might have complied with his Marriners and have saved Money enough to have maintain'd himself for ever but I perceive my Discourse signifies nothing to you and therefore since you care not for my Company or Conversation I 'll bid you heartily Adieu for I must call upon Mr. Friendly an Acquaintance of yours Inf. Mr. Friendly Sir I am come to thank you for the many Favours I have received of you and do give you many Thanks therefore and am heartily glad to see you in good Health Friendly Truly Neighbour this is kindly done of you and I am glad to see you well pray Sir sit down for I have something to say to you that is serious and was thinking to send for you to discourse you and advise you in a Matter of great Importance and my Wife Civility is very urgent with me about it Fid. Truly Sir as you have so often obliged me so I shall esteem my self happy in your Favour and shall thankfully take and follow your Advice in any thing that concerns me Friend I hope you will for you may assure your self that I shall advise you nothing but what shall be honest and for your good But to proceed pray when did you see Capt. Honesty Fid. Truly Sir I just parted with him he and I has had a long Conference about Cheating and Informing Friend Pray what was the Subject of your Discourse Fid. Truly I charged him Guilty of Breach of Trust and of Imbezeling and Purloining of Prizes and Prize Goods and of Abusing and Cheating his Officers and Seamen and he charged me and brands me for an Informer and says they are Rogues and Villains that deserve to be Hang'd or Banish'd and after a long Discourse Pro and Con we parted very Friendly Friend I am glad of that for I know he is a Huffing Spark and one that scorns to take an Affront Fid. And truly I scorn to give him any Friend Indeed I always looked upon you as a Man of a good even Temper for that but pray how comes he to charge you with the Scandalous Name of an Informer Fid. Because I Prosecute him and some others for cheating the King and Country Friend Why are you concerned in that I heard indeed that you and some other Persons had Informed against several Captains but I could not believe you were concerned in it hang it that 's a Nasty Scandalous Business indeed for shame for shame leave that off Prithee see what