Equity against him to discover and make him confess the Truth Why then you shall have no Remedy For his Counsel shall direct him to Plead and Demurr to what he cannot answer without Confession And I have heard a Lord-Keeper on the Bench in a Cause I had before him in K. Charles the Second's time declare Mine Adversary that cheated me ought not to be compell'd to answer my Bill because 't was customary for Shop-keepers in Cheapside to tell Lyes and if you go from one End to the other to buy a pair of Stockins they would tell you they lost though they got never so much by them So it seems Wickedness is defended by Wickedness and there is no Remedy 5 thly Their great Master piece and what the most ingenious as they account themselves doe profess is to cut a man's Throat with a Feather 6 thly The great care of a Counsel and an Attorney is to manage a Cause with that method as may draw the most Money from their Client and that they call doing for the good of the Law 7 thly They are very forward to multiply Motions and for every Motion the Attorney or Sollicitor must be paid for new Briefs though the old ones doe serve and every Counsel you have had to doe with must be Fee'd for the Motion and must have his Brief of the whole Cause though perhaps two or three Lines for one Counsel be enough and there is no occasion for the rest to speak one word 8 thly They must all be Fee'd also and have new Briefs for the Defence against every Motion made by the Adversary upon due notice given to the Client 9 thly The Attorney commonly directs the Client what he must give to Counsel and commonly once in three Months he gives his Client a Bill amounting to as much Money as has bin given in that time to Counsel and if the Client offer to abate him Three-half-pence of his Bill he 'l take it amiss and in great dudgen although the Client perhaps hath spent upon him and the Counsel many a Pound at the Tavern 10 thly If your Counsel have undertaken by the force of Money from your Adversary to betray you and favour his Cause he shall under pretence of zeal for your Cause bawl most filthily and calling your own Witnesses to give their Testimony he 'l either bawl and make such a noise as to affright them or else confound them with cramp Questions And when all is done you must believe he hath laboured most vehemently and taken an abundance of pains for you 11 thly The Sollicitor or Counsel can neither of them tell you how long 't will be before the Cause be ended or how many Years 't is like to continue especially in Chancery for I did never yet hear of a Cause begun and ended there in so little as one Year's time and most Causes are held out according to the length of the Clients Purses 12 thly For the benefit of a Fee there is hardly any Case but they 'l pretend if you desire to be secured legally by a Writing under a Counsel's hand as Law they 'l not disappoint or displease you by telling you according to Law it cannot be though to be safe according to Law only it is you do come to desire Advice and a legal Instrument to be drawn whether it be a Defeazance or Conveyance c. yet right or wrong he 'l pretend to draw it out legal and firm and safe and afterwards if it prove insignificant or scandalous in the Law he to excuse himself shall call the Client Rogue and Knave c. for asking of him his said Advice and taking the Writing of him which he parted not with unless he had received the Payment of perhaps more than his full Fees twice told at least Suppose a Man be wronged and cheated of ever so much as suppose it be to the value of a Million which to me seems a very considerable Summ and he himself could make it appear undeniably by good and sufficient proof if had the liberty to speak himself for 't is impossible any Man can know the truth of his Case better than himself yet if he have not Ten shillings to give a Lawyer to speak for him he must lose all and be without remedy and if he cannot borrow beg or steal so much he must go to Prison and there rot and be quite undone for the Lawyers never trust a Client So 't is plain that without Money no Justice must be had and whether it be according to the Law of the Land I know not but I dare be so confident as to say 't is not according to the Law of God who hath given every Man a Tongue to speak for himself Also I have found a sort of a Lawyer of 20 or 30 Years study and reading the Law that is neither Counsel nor Attorney but pretending to great Knowledge in the Law and great Commiseration and Pitty towards me to see me so much harrassed and abused would also pretend friendly and faithfully to advise and help me and accordingly did advise me by no means to be served with a Decretal Order and meeting with one of mine Adversary's Counsel threatning to take out a Statute of Bankrupt against me if I would not be served with the Decretal Order he bids him kiss at which he pretending to be enraged effectually does the thing And afterwards finding that by Law I was Heir to what Brother Mann hath and doth keep from me bids me not trouble my self he would undertake to get for me my Right without my disbursing one penny of Money till 't was fully recover'd For which kind proffer as I did accept of so I gave him my many and most hearty Thanks and accordingly he undertakes it and in the stead of taking the right and short way by serving the Tenants with Ejectments as I desired and he promised me to doe he it seems thought fit to imploy the great Mr. E. of Bristow as he called him who being the richest Attorney in Bristow must needs be both the most extreamly honest and able so upon his discoursing with him they did resolve and contrive betwixt them how to make a beneficial Suit of it So concluding together to File a Bill in Chancery to get the Writings they accordingly preferr a Bill and after a few days were past my learned Lawyer comes and tells me what was done and how that without the Writings 't was impossible to serve Ejectments so I acquiesc'd with whatsoever his great Friendship and Learning did suggest and about three Months after tells me that the great Mr. E. had done the business and I need not trouble my self he would take care though they had neither gotten an Answer to the Bill nor the Writings for the Estate So waiting some months longer and no Answer appearing I went to the Clerk in Chancery that they had imployed to know the reason of the delay and told him
amounted to far more than what could thereby be recovered although I think I never retained more Counsel or fee'd them with more or greater Fees than what my Sollicitor told me was necessary and have sometimes had the Attorneys Bills taxed according to Law as was pretended yet some after the taxing have told me that by the strict Rules of the Law one tenth part of what charged therein could not be due unto them and for what really laid out I generally deposited in their hands for the Practicers in the Law are generally so wise as not to trust their Clients nor to go to Law one with the other I do not remember that in near sixteen years time that I have bin harrassed and tormented at Law that I did ever see or hear of two Lawyers dispute their own Right at the Law neither is there any reason to expect to hear of such a thing for doubtless the Laws are plain and a Cause truely stated must needs appear by the Law at the very first time as well as at the thousandth time to be either in the right or in the wrong but the great-Virtue of a good and able Lawyer is to make a bad Cause good and a good Cause bad But is it not a marvellous thing to see how in other Countries without Lawyers people can live and enjoy their own peaceably and quietly without imbroils And here in England if a Man have any thing that then he must either undoe others or be undone himself by the Law And that the Laws designed for the good and welfare of the People should be so managed as to become their utter ruine and destruction Now whereas in the time of the Heathen Roman Empire St. Paul had so much Justice Favour and Reason used towards him as to be allowed the liberty of Speaking without hindrance so as to be heard in whatsoever he could say in making his own Defence for himself And now here in England the Lawyers have a method of understanding one another for favouring a Cause on the one side and baffling it on the other side by saying This is not to the Point and That is not to the Point and also by calling it the Practice of the Court to Fine a Man for setting forth the whole truth although it be never so much to the purpose of clearing the Case on both sides which cannot rightly be understood without And whereas a Bill in Chancery preferred by one Man against another is no less than one man's Accusation of another who being to answer upon Oath is therein to make his Defence I do most humbly pray that all such unreasonable and lawless Practices being without Statutes may be forborn And that in this my Case mine Answer filed in the Lord Mayor's Court the 23d of July 1696 may stand without a Fine and upon hearing of the Cause all parts thereof may be heard justly and duely weighed and considered And that Sir Richard Blackam and Mr. John Freeman may fully and truely answer upon their corporal Oaths every Word or at least each Paragraph in my Cross-bill preferred against them without Evasion or Equivocation by the help of Lawyers that so the truth of all matters depending betwixt me and them may be made manifest and the Right and Truth being fully understood Justice may be done accordingly For though by the Law I had undeniably a good Action for great Damages yet by the force of Mr. Moyer's Money the Law could not prevail So it seems the Law is so much to be managed and byassed by Money that it can by no means Right any Man that hath it not or at most but in proportion to the quantity he hath to bestow For I do remember the first time my Counsel moved the Lords Commissioners of the Great Seal for a Supersedeas to set aside Mr. Moyer's Statute of Bankrupt most unjustly and unduely taken out against me Mr. Moyer's Counsel did alledge that Mr. Moyer was worth the best part of One hundred thousand pounds so they ordered the Statute to go on notwithstanding all the Allegations and the undeniable Arguments my Counsel could use whereupon my Counsel said at their peril let them go on upon which Caution I think they went on no farther although they would not grant a Supersedeas but continued the Statute many months after and by their means Mr. Moyer did most wrongfully continue the Statute upon me near twelve months Doubtless God Almighty in his Law hath directed other things contrary and in no case allows partiality and hath given every Man his own tongue to speak for himself though now the Lawyers here in England have brought the People to that pass that they by no means must be allowed to speak for themselves or can hardly say their Souls are their own nay I know some of them will not allow that any Man but a Lawyer can speak Reason or Sense unless he be very rich and then he is wise and every thing else So now since nothing can resist the forceable Power of Money but the Personal Authority and Word of the King 's most Excellent Majesty God's Vicegerent I have therefore thought it highly necessary and the only expedient left me to throw my self Life and mine All at His Majesty's Feet whose Just Power and Prerogative alone can and I doubt not but will do me Justice And therefore as I have presumed so far to assume the Right of a Loyal Subject herein to represent the Truth of mine Unparallell'd Grievances by no means to be Redressed by Law or by Parliaments though endeavoured for sundry years last past I do adventure to mention one Grievance more because I do look upon it encouraged and caused merely by the want of Redress in my former Grievances for as yet not being gotten out of the Grave of Infamy dug so deep by Sir Richard Blackam that cannot yet find its bottom One William Mann Esq the City of London's Sword-bearer doth think fit to keep that form me which God in his Providence by the Rules of the Law hath made to be mine for he knowing and finding that by the Law I can have no Right done for me without an expence of as much or perhaps double the value of the thing I should any time offer to Sue for refuseth to do only the common part of an honest Man which is only to deliver up unto me the Writings of a small Estate that he himself told me I was Heir unto by Law upon the Death of my Sister his fifth Wife who did also leave me a Legacy of 200 l. to be paid me within two years after her decease but he will part with neither because for peace and quietness sake and to avoid a Law-suit and to lay a foundation for Friendship with him if possibly I could I say for the said Considerations I did upon his importunity rather than have words of difference with him come to an agreement with him for the whole and
upon a small consideration did make him an abatement of 352 l. and accordingly I endeavoured to make an end with him but he finding no Right to be had for me at Law in any case hath put a stop to all and saith he will spend Fifteen hundred pounds but he will have what by Law is my Right from me though the whole matter is worth but 862 pounds So he having wheedled with and given great Entertainments to the Trustee and other Friends that I had desired to endeavour to perswade him to do the reasonable and just Things according to agreement did on the contrary prevail with them to assist him to over reach and circumvent me and to tell me that I was without any remedy both in Law and Equity and that he being the Sword-bearer would upon all occasions find more favour in a Court of Justice than I should Can there be a greater aspersion upon the Government than to say their Courts of Justice do distribute Justice according to the respect they have for persons in Office or otherwise more than others I am sorry to see any one should have cause to think or speak such a word They also would needs perswade me to leave it to them Whereupon being professed Friends in an extraordinary manner the one being my Brother-in Law and the other having all along before that time pretended to tell me how unreasonable and unjust my Brother Mann's dealings in the World both with me and others had bin I did tell them thus Let the Case be truely stated and carried to two of the most Eminent learned and able Counsel for their Opinions both in Law and Equity and to have the Opinions clear without interruption by talking with them I did desire we might all meet together and I would give to each of them a true Copy of the Case verbatim with the same Words in two distinct Papers and at one and the same time to go from me separately the one to the one Counsel and the other to the other and without mentioning one word of the Case deliver to each Counsel the Case in the Paper and not to meet one another untill they did come again to me I would then if Counsel should advise that I had no remedy as they had said referr it to them but in the stead of so doing they did not meet me together or could I ever after see them together since the time I made my proposition of terms for the Reference they had desired of me to be left unto them but on the contrary not finding them in some days I did to lose no more time send one with the Case that knew nothing of the matter to Mr. Serjeant Levine who gave his Opinion subscribed to the Case and then Mr. Brome not knowing Advice had bin taken upon it sent to me for a State of the Case so I sent him the Original Draft thereof which he before had seen and said was so truely stated that there was not a word to be added to or be taken from it But Brother Noyes not being to be found I sent him another Copy with Copy of the Serjeant Levine his Opinion so the next day Mr. Brome and he meeting together consulted which way to make void Serjeant Levine his Opinion so went to Mr. Serjeant Pemberton and representing to him different things upon the Case in their talk with him did get him to subscribe an Opinion seemingly different but not contrary as they fancied And then they went to Serieant Levine and told him he was mistaken in his Opinion and thence went to Brother Mann's House and to the Tavern and drew up their Award according to his mind which they signed and left with him Next day Mr. Brome came and told me how they had made an end and had bin with two Counsel and a long Story how Serjeant Levine had owned himself mistaken but shewed me nothing that had bin written by any of the Counsel and Brother Noyes went away that morning out of Town without seeing me from the time they first proposed to have the Reference and thinks by that means to bind me with the Award notwithstanding he acted contrary towhat was proposed and as some that are learned in the Law did say was very knavish and is of no force A True Copy of the State of the Case with both the Serjeant's Opinions and the Award signed is as follows The Case betwixt A. and B. A. having a Widow Sister who by surviving her first Husband became seized in the Fee simple of the two Estates in Lands Houses and Tenements the one Estate being valued at 250 l. per Ann. she did according to Agreement before Marriage with her second Husband settle upon him and his Heirs for ever all the Estate of 250. l. per Ann. upon Condition that he should pay off the Summ of 2010 l. Debts due upon that Estate and she have the liberty after Marriage to give and bequeath the Summ of 2000 l. amongst her friends to be paid them within two Years after her decease to be levied out of the said Estate of 250 l. per Ann. as by the said Deed more particularly appears in the Hands of the Trustee the other Estate being but two Houses and a Stable with Ten Acres of Land reckoned worth 31 l. per Ann. She also reserved to her self at her own disposal without ever interesting or concerning her Husband therein About two Years and twenty-two Days since A. his said Sister died and by Deed according to Marriage-Covenants gave away but 1800 l. of the 2000 l. by reason she had prevailed with her second Husband B. to put 200 l. for her Life into the Million-Lottery Now B. her second Husband having extreamly importuned her to make over to him the other Estate of 31 l. per Ann. had gotten Writings drawn and accordingly did about Ten of the Clock at Night shew them unto her which did so much trouble her that soon after she was in Bed 't is supposed she died because next Morning she was found dead and her Corps almost quite cold and indeed was the occasion of once breaking off the Match But however B. the second Husband comes to A. the deceased's Brother and tells him that he is Heir at Law to the Estate of 31 l. per Ann. and if his Sister had lived but two Days longer she would had made them over to him and did not doubt but he would accomplish the thing his Sister had intended to doe because he knew him to be a just Man and withall told him That if he would be so kind he would give him a hundred Guineys but A. not complying desired B. to deliver unto him the Writings belonging to the said Estate but B. replyed He would not part with them but having Possession 't was 11 Points of the Law and he had Children and Grand Children to provide for Hereupon A. Files a Bill against B. in the High Court of Chancery
did desire to be carried before the Mayor they denied me saying He had nothing to doe with it So I paid down the uttermost penny they thought fit to demand and took the Clerk's Receipt A True Copy of which is as followeth For Drawing the Ejectments and Advice 3 s. 4 d. For Writing four Copies 10 s. For Service 3 s. 4 d. For Drawing the Affidavit King's Stamp and Swearing 2 s 6 d. For Action 1s For Arrest 2s 6d make 24th of March 1696. Received the Contents of the above for the Vse of my Master Richard Knight per me Jos Tapley Then being let go I walked to the Tolesey where I was informed the Young man's Master Richard Knight had bin seen just before so went to his House where finding him in his Office I told him what Usage I had received from his Young-man but all that I could have from him was That truely he was very sorry for the Action and it was done without his Knowledge and if I would he would beat his Clerk for it if that would doe me any good and he could doe no more for he said his Clerk had no Money and was not worth one farthing Afterwards I went to Mr. Mayor of Bristow and acquainted him with what had pass'd but he told me 't was not in his Power to help me and if he should go about to endeavour it he feared he should but only expose both himself and me and did therefore think it best to let it alone and withall did tell me with great lamentation of the great abuses and ill practices of the Attorneys in and about that City But in Matters that came before him he would not suffer any of them to speak so much as one word though they were generally so very forward that he had much to doe and 't was with a great deal of trouble he made them to forbear For said he I have always found that they make a good Cause bad and it is my business to doe Right and Justice to every Man that comes before me Now if an High-way-Man had taken so much from me I think 't would had bin much more tollerable and fair because I might then have had the liberty of fighting and defending my self But it seems the Attorneys that have an especial Protection in the Law from being called Knaves can make the Law to serve them to all intents and purposes whether it be down right Robbery or Cheating by extravagant Bills charging 10 or 20 times more than what is lawfully and justly due or by Arresting Men for Debt before ever it be demanded of them and taking out Execution first on the Principal and when satisfied there then on his Bail and in two or three Years time can run up a Debt from 45 l. 4 s. 6 d. and make it amount to 200 l. Doubtless these Men are choice and ought to be nourished and cherished as Procurers of the Nation 's happiness for they are in themselves most absolute having the Law at their command each Man is Judge Jury and Executioner and all within his own Will and Pleasure I thank God I have travell'd some part of the World and in it a good part of Turky and Christendom but I never met with or heard of the like usage and practices used here in England I do not remember to have seen or heard that the Locust or Catterpillers or any sort of Vermin have so very much increased in the time as that sort of Men called Attorneys have increased within these few years about Bristow I remember an ancient Inhabitant of that place told me in March last that of his certain knowledge about 30 years since there were belonging to Bristow no more than six Attorneys and the one half of them died in Goal for want of Business and the others could hardly live by their Imployment and now there are not less than Six score nay he believed they were more numerous than the Porters about that City and every one of them lives like a Gentleman of a great or plentifull Estate And now one of them that was but a poor Clerk about 26 years since keeps in his Stable 10 or 12 Horses constantly and when he comes up to London he commonly hath 6 or 8 Horsemen to attend him Now how comes this great Mystery to pass if it be true as have bin told that an Attorney cannot honestly get by his Practice above 40 pounds per Ann. I think it may well be supposed and there is no great doubt but they have the Art of sinking devouring and swallowing Estates as is too too apparent by multitudes of ruined Families Now if a Man of any other profession charges in his Account more than what is due he is accounted and called Knave and if a Coach-man Carr-man or Water-man demand more than his Fare for which there are sett Rates the Magistrate can and will punish him or them for such Extortion and make them be content with their just Dues Or if an High-way-Man or Pick-pocket shall take from a Man the value of Five shillings or less he must by the Laws of the Land be hanged for Theft But Lawyers and Attorneys do not only bereave Men of their Estates and Reputations whilst they live but even their Posterities must grieve and groan under their most monstrous evil Practices And although our Laws are undoubtedly the very best and wholsomest of any yet these Men by their evil practices doe render them the most grievous and the most burthensome in the whole World and I doe believe the whole World doth not afford the like Hell upon Earth for Men to be devoured by Fraud and Deceit under the colour and pretence of Law and Justice I have bin told that at Doctors-Commons there is now depending a Suit for the Value of Eighteen pence no more which cannot be yet ended although the Parties concern'd have spent at least Three hundred pounds on either side I cannot conceive how 't is possible for a Poor Man or a Man of a mean Estate to get his Right by Law of a Man that is vastly Rich who with his Money strikes a Cause through and through i. e. on both sides For though the Man of mean Estate may make shift to provide and give the due Fees according to Law yet if the Rich Man shall not only Fee his own Counsel much higher and by cunning ways doe the like to the mean Man's Counsel which is no new practice must not the mean Man needs lose his Cause and his Right in it without remedy For I have heard of a Story of one that very lately was the ancientest and ablest Lawyer and Counsel in England that in his time receiv'd a Present of Pippins with some Broad Pieces of Gold stuck in into every Pippin one but how many Hundred of them there was I have forgotten But however the adverse Party receiving intelligence thereof resolved to out doe him and accordingly sent him a
AN APPEAL TO GOD and the KING Together with A True NARRATIVE OF Unparallell'd Grievances c. Wherein may be seen as in a Mirrour or Looking-Glass the surpassing Miseries of the English Nation above other Nations for having the best and most wholsome Laws in the whole World yet being so excessively corrupted by Covetousness of Money in the Law-Practicers as now they are In the stead of being an Help and Safeguard are now become a meer Nusance and Oppression to the People and unless some Expedient be found out for a just and due Administration of Justice without Fee or Bribe 't is impossible for This Nation to be Happy but must remain the most Miserable Nation in the whole World Most humbly Presented by BENJAMIN ALBYN of London Merchant Felix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum LONDON Printed for the Author 1697. JEHOUAH O Lord God of my Father most Blessed and Glorious Trinity FATHER SON and HOLY GHOST Three Persons and One Almighty God in Unity whose Unity is in Trinity and whose Trinity is in Unity incomprehensible whose Essence is a Substance without Composition Immaterial and Spiritual whose Life is altogether entire perfect all at once One infinite Moment without Beginning or End Eternal Who is Reason and a perfect Understanding perfectly knowing and understanding Himself is immutable and necessarily in Himself whose Infiniteness makes all Wonderfull His Mercy Love Goodness and all his Excellencies infinite Whence ariseth his All-sufficiency that possesseth all Goodness desirable or possible Who is before all Time and above all Circumscription of Time from Everlasting to Everlasting who made Time and will dissolve it again He is called the Rock of Ages the Ancient of Days and Eternity itself Alpha and Omega the first and the last hath called Himself I AM Whose infinite Essence gives Being to the whole Creation and is All in All whose Attributes are more Excellent than to be discerned by so mean a thing as Sense His Wisdom Power Mercy and Justice Goodness and Truth also his Immensity Purity and Holiness is Incomprehensible and Eternal And having created the Heavens and the Earth and all that in them is within Six days and rested on the Seventh is therefore called the God of Sabbaths which we are commanded to keep Holy according to his own Example and Reason for Blessing and Hallowing that Day His Name is a strong Tower and being the Father of Lights King of Kings his Dominion is Supreme and being King of Righteousness from whom nothing is hid delighting in his Mercy and Justice beholdeth all the Dwellers upon Earth whose Vision is in his Attributes Providence and in the Face of Christ his Eternal Son who for us Men and our Salvation came down from Heaven and took upon Him the Nature of Man without Sin to suffer for the Sins of them that believe and to fulfill the Law became a Mediator betwixt God and Man in whose Name and Merits alone it is that I who am but a poor worthless Worm sinfull Dust and Ashes doe now most humbly present and prostrate my self before the Throne of his Majesty begging Mercy and Pardon for all my Sins and Iniquities and to blot out all my Transgressions O Lord God look down and have Mercy upon me lay no more upon me than thou wilt enable me to bear Counsel me in all my Difficulties sanctifie mine Affections create in me a clean Heart and renew a right Spirit within me Let not the World the Flesh or the Devil have any dominion over me Teach me how to fear Thee and Thee only and enable me to put mine whole Trust and Confidence in Thee and in Thee only and to hope in thy Mercy alone Sanctifie unto me all thy Dispensations towards me and in thine own good time send me Deliverance out of all my Troubles and Afflictions thou hast visited me with and in the mean time give me Patience to bear them Behold the Rage of mine Enemies abate their Pride asswage their Malice turn their Hearts and confound their Devices and plead my Cause with mine Adversaries and clear up mine Innocency from all their Aspersions and give them true Repentance for all their Sins and let them amend and reform their Misdoings Encline the King's Heart couragiously and continually to execute Judgment and Justice that so by Righteousness His Throne may be Established to Him and His Posterity throughout all Generations Enable Him to correct and purge out all the corrupt Practices now used in the Laws of this Land and grant that by the good Advice of His Parliament by Thee the only Wise God directed He may in His days live to see Judgment and Justice run down like a mighty Stream and Righteousness flow like a broad River that so He may be found worthy that at the last when His Life shall end here He may Reign with Christ to all Eternity in Life everlasting O Lord send a good Issue out of all mine Afflictions endue me with true Wisdom Knowledge and Understanding give me Sincerity and Integrity and shew me the Way wherein I should walk and grant in whatsoever I doe I may seek thine Honour and thy Glory Give me neither Poverty nor Riches but feed me with Food convenient for me and make me joyfully and truely thankfull unto Thee with mine whole Heart for all thy Providences towards me for the many Mercies and Necessaries of this life and of the life to come particularly for my Creation and Preservation but especially and above all for my Redemption in the Lord Jesus Christ for the means of Grace and the hope of Glory To whom with Thee and the Holy Ghost be all Honour Glory and possible Praise Might Majesty Thanks and Dominion henceforth and for ever-more Amen O Lord in Thee have I trusted let me never be confounded Benjamin Albyn To the August Imperial and most Excellent MAJESTY of WILLIAM the Third by the most Wonderfull Providence of the Almighty God made King of England Scotland France and Ireland Defender of the True Christian Faith and in His Dominions over all Persons and in all Causes next under God Supreme Moderator and Governor The most humble Petition of Appeal together with a True Narrative of his Vnparallell'd Grievances c. is most humbly Offered and Presented by his most humble Petitioner BENJAMIN ALBIN of London Merchant GREAT SIR AS You are God's Vicegerent here upon Earth so You are most justly and duely to be accounted my Dread Soveraign and without just Cause I should not presume thus to make mine Approach to Your most Sacred MAJESTY Now as Life and an honest Reputation are to me of an equal Value and one Sir Richard Blackam hath blackened and whispered away my Reputation on the Grounds of a Causeless Statute of Bankrupt maliciously taken out against me by one Samuel Moyer after a long and wrongfull Prosecution of me in Your MAJESTY's High Court of Chancery where with most excessive Charge and Trouble I was for
is as follows 10th of June 1696. REceived then of Mr. Benjamin Albyn the four Bonds under-named viz. One Bond wherein Mr. Peele and Mr. Dixton stand bound to him the said Mr. Albyn in 50 l. for the payment of 25 l. One other Bond wherein the same Parties stand bound to him in the same Summ of 50 l. for payment of 25 l. One other Bond wherein Madam Gloxin and Others stand bound to him in 80 l. for payment of 41 l. 4 s. And also a Covenant from Capt. Cuttance to pay 20 l. Witness my Hand the Day and Year above-named Warner Dawes So I went my way thinking to had bin quiet but contrary to all Reason and Justice being an Attorney that can manage the Law to all his intents and purposes finds out a way in few days after to trouble my Bail and as I was told by them takes Execution out against them for the same Debt that I thought I had in some measure satisfied and since the 10th of June 1696 hath run up the debt which was then but 85 pounds with charges now on the 23d of March 1696 unto 160 l. and 40 l. more for Charges besides 20 in 30 l. more my Bail have spent of my money for their defence and now the said Dawes pretends to lay a Sequestration on some Lands and Houses I have a Right unto and keeps my Bonds before mentioned from me Now being in mine apprehension thus unjustly dealt with and used by the Attorneys I would gladly be informed whether it be reasonable and according to our Law for Attorneys to munkeyfie metamorphize and abuse Men after such a rate and if they shall be encouraged and suffered to go on in these their practices who shall live free from the plague of their devices Another experiment I have had of Lawyers and Gentlemen of the Long Robe and Quill is That having fee'd two of them with five Guineys to each for to plead my Cause the next day in the morning which being then called according to appointment and expectation and the one of them being then in waiting and expectation of a Cause to be called at the Exchequer Barr when my Cause was called and although I went and called him my self yet not being able to come back in time my Cause was put off to another day so according to their unconscionable practice and expectation I was forc'd to give them both their refreshing Fees and then upon hearing my Cause it appearing very fair for me 't was again put off for the Accommodation of mine Adversaries not being in all points ready for some days longer so was forc'd to Fee them again and by that time my Cause came on again to be heard mine Adversary did gain such an interest in my Counsel that the Elder of them laboured industriously to betray and deliver me up to mine Adversary had not the Minutes of his first Pleadings bin taken and then considered and to the Younger of them I gave at the Evening before two Guineys to make up his Fee fifteen Guineys he told me I was very slender in my Fees and I think did not speak one word more for me I confess if I had found or could at any time find my Moneys in the streets I might then had afforded to fill his Pocket with Guineys But in regard it is not so and what Fees I gave them were none other but out of such Moneys that as a Merchant by the sweat of my brows I did difficultly gain with much labour toil and hazard both of my Person and mine Estate and the Law hath appointed a Counsels Fee to be but Ten shillings Is it not great Impudence in a Lawyer to pretend himself not duely paid when according to the sett Rate in the Law he is Fee'd not only with Ten shillings but more than Ten times over so much Nay I have heard of one that being offered sixty Guineys for a Fee did refuse and say he would not take 90 and under 100 Guineys he would not appear Is it not a stupendious thing and a burning shame And if duely considered what must the end of these things be when a Lawyer that knows the Law shall contrary to Law exact extravigant Fees to falsifie all Causes they are not for but retained against How is it possible that Truth and Justice should abound whilst such vast Numbers are permitted and imployed to confound the Rights of the People I have bin told that according to the strict Rules of the Law less than Five pounds will pay all Expences for a Law Suit as for Counsel and Attorneys Fees for Writings and Briefs with all other Charges whatsoever of a Law Suit cannot cost above Five pounds and now 't is not Five hundred or Five thousand pounds can end some Law-Suits and doubtless 't is not Money that before God can make a Cause better or worse or that which is right to be wrong or that which is false to be true or that true which is false and whilst the People are thus oppressed by the Lawyers covetous and undue practices how is it possible for Peace and Happiness Truth and Justice Religion and Piety to be established amongst us according to the Prayers of our Church which must not and when it considers dares not seem to mock God in its Prayers But that I with most humble submission leave to the Consideration of the great Wisdom of the King and his great Council the Parliament whose business 't is for doubtless a Reformation is not only a great Duty but would be a great Blessing to this Nation In Turky in any Case if a Man go to the Muftee who though is the Head or Chief of their Church yet he is commonly so learned and well read in the Turkish Laws that when he gives his Fetfa that is a short Declaration in Writing under his Hand what is Law in the Case you go to him about 't is so true firm and sure that the Caddee or Judge cannot go against it when he gives his Judgment on the Case And if we had Lawyers that would study the Laws of this Land so as to be able to doe the like I doe think they would be highly worthy of great Honour and Esteem and great Rewards both from the King and People for then every Man might upon good ground plead his own Cause if he be in the right or if in the wrong then might desist and of himself fairly and honestly adjust and agree with his Adversary And this I do humbly conceive would be a very good means to prevent and save people from those long tedious expensive and vexatious Law-Suits that waste Estates and make Envy and Malice so much to abound in this Nation and on the contrary will cause Unity Peace and Concord to be much more esteemed and practiced amongst us FINIS