Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A41837
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The Graves-end tilt-boat
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1699
(1699)
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Wing G1606; ESTC R4953
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21,400
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50
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Sister who told her the Estate shou'd come to her and her Children after their Death the Eldest having no Children of her own she consented to them and run away into another County with her Father's Chaplin who had got a pair of Jack-Boots and put himself into a Troopers habit just when her Brother came to take Possession of the Estate and turn all out of Doors Her Husband who I told you was a sort of Unthinking good-natur'd Man being with my Master at that time he told him he heard his Eldest Daughters Husband design'd to Seiz on his Estate and turn him out of Door The Young Gentleman who seem'd to have no hand in the Plot told him 'T was Imposseeble and yet the next Morning went away to his Brother and left his Father His Wife coming back as soon as her Father was turn'd out and his Estate Seiz'd Having heard the Gentleman's Story out We all Commiserated the Unhappy Condition of the Injur'd Father and pitied the Meagre Gentleman that told the Story Upon which a Passenger that sat next but one to me addressing himself to him said I have heard your Tale and am sorry for your Misfortunes and tho' it is not in my Power to help you yet Sir for your Diversion I 'll tell you a Parallel Story to that which you have told and indeed not much unlike it only yours is of Unnatural Children and mine is of a Cruel Father which without any farther Preface is as follows The Second Tale. The Cruel Father THere Liv'd not long since in one of the largest Counties in England a Nobleman that shall be Nameless whose Nobility of Birth and great Estate had dignify'd him with the Title of Lord Lieutenant of the County where he liv'd and where he might have liv'd happily to this Day had not he been far more remarkable for Wickedness than for his Birth It would be hard to give an Exact Character of him he was so great a Compound of all Vice but Cruelty and Revenge had the Ascendant over all the rest and his thirst after Blood was insatiable which made him Implacable towards all whom he thought to have Injur'd him He did indeed profess the Popish Religion but that in the late Reigns was thought no Crime and it is hard to say whether his Religion made him so Cruel or his Cruelty made him turn Papist for he was bred a Protestant in his Younger Days but this is certain he was Proud Revengeful and Malicious and wou'd carry on his Designs by Treachery and Deceit his Words wou'd be smoother than Oyl when the greatest Villany was in his Heart and it was shrewdly suspected by many that he caus'd his own Brother to be Poisoned that he might Enjoy his Estate And this was very common to him that he wou'd commit Twenty Villanies to cover one and but to know that any Person suspected him was to have that Person taken out of the World to which End he always kept a Crew of Beggarly Cut-throats depending upon him which would Swear any Man out of his Life upon occasion especially if he was Rich and there was any hope of Forfeitures to fall to the King which he wou'd be sure to beg and thereby gratifie his Knights of the Post out of the Ill-gotten Spoils But if the Person prov'd too great to be taken off under a Pretence of Justice his Crew were ready at his Beck to Cut their Throats and then to lay the Crime on the Person they had so Murder'd as if he had done it himself He turn'd out all honest Gentlemen from being Justices of the Peace or Officers of the Militia in the County where he was Lord Lieutenant and affected an Arbitrary Rule and Domination in all that he did not caring what he Swore or how he took his Oath so that no Man cou'd use that Confession in the common Prayer We have done those things we ought not to have done and left undone those things we ought to have done better than himself And such as himself was were his Servants likewise being a Pack of the greatest Villains that ever scap'd the Gallows as forward to do any Mischief as he was to set 'em about it The most beggarly Scoundrels and Blood thirsty Rascals that ever came into the Service of a Gentleman their only Vertue being Passive-Obedience for they were for the most part such Cowards that they knew not how to resist And yet this Gentleman as wicked as he was had two fair Daughters whose Piety and Vertue was so great and Exemplary that it did more than Compensate for all their Fathers Ills who every Day offer'd up Pious Prayers to Heaven to turn him from the Evil of his Ways and griev'd to see the courses that he took Who in return repay'd them Hatred for their Love and Duty tho' for no other Reason but because they were Vertuous and wou'd not turn Papists as their Father had done but both continu'd Zealous Protestants The Eldest of them who was much the fairest of the Two and was the Wonder of her Sex for Piety and Vertue was Married to a Gentleman so truly Noble and Compleat in all Perfections as if his Brest had been the Magazine of all the Vertues for there they had their Constant Residence His Actions were always the Product of a well-grounded Judgment having Reason and Religion for their Basis In all his Attempts he was Brave and Undaunted but wou'd never attempt an Unjust thing He was always a great Assertor of the Liberty of Mankind and always an Enemy to Popery and Slavery for which reason his Father-in-Law hated him I have forgot to tell you That the Lord Lieutenant had a mighty kindness for a Great Man in a Neighbouring County who govern'd the People there with the extremest rigor and severity Imaginable using all manner of Cruelty and Oppression towards 'em breaking down all the Bounds and Fences of Law and Justice and making no Distinction either of Right or Wrong not Valuing the most Sacred Laws and Edicts that had been Confirmed with the greatest Solemnity so that none that knew him wou'd ever trust him if they cou'd avoid it and whoever did was sure to come off a Loser For Vows nor Oaths cou'd hold him any longer than till he had an Opportunity to break ' em This was tâ—â— only Crony of the Lord Lieutenant who â—dmir'd his Conduct and follow'd his Examplâ— in all he cou'd But his Noble Son-in-law had always oppos'd his Practices and hindred him several times from Oppressing his Neighbours as he design'd to have done Which made his Father hate him the more for he lov'd no body so well as this old Tyrant and had rather his Estate shou'd fall into his hands than into the hands of his Son-in-Law Who having as I said Married the Eldest Daughter and having no Son the Estate must of Necessity fall into his hands which the Lord Lieutenant and his Lady a Popish Bigot like her Husband
brought a Bed of a Young Son which caus'd no little Joy amongst us all especially my Master who now had got an heir to all his great Estate and this Young Gentleman was look'd upon to be the growing hopes of all the Family But O the Fickleness of Fortune and the Unconstancy of sublunary things How quickly was our Joy turn'd into Mourning And our Rejoycing into Grief and Sorrow My Master's Eldest Daughter altho she had no Children of her own who had always flatter'd her self with the hopes of enjoying her Father's Estate but now seeing a Young Heir was born to put her Nose quite out of Joynt and cutting off her self and Sister too from the Inheritance was mightily afflicted at this News being as I have said a Woman of a very haughty and Imperious Temper and cou'd not forbear publickly to shew her Resentment But her Husband finding on a sudden all his great Expectations come to nothing and that this Heir wou'd deprive him of the Inheritance he fretted fum'd and storm'd like a Mad-man giving out that the Young Son was Spurious and surreptitious and only a Trick of his Mother-in-Law's to cheat him of his Right saying his Father was either Impos'd upon or joyn'd in the confederacy against him with many other Extravagant things of that Nature resolving however to run through all obstacles to gratifie his Pride and Ambition And because he knew his Father-in-law to be of a Religion differing from the Publick Profession he gave out that he had a design to introduce his own Religion in all places where he had to do and that all those who would not profess it shou'd be turn'd out of their Farms and their Leases become forfeited And if at any time any difference happened between my Master and the Tenants he wou'd be still interposing by his Spies For he had corrupted several of my Masters Menial Servants and amongst others his Secretary who still sent him word of all Occurrences that happened in his Family and likewise one of his Pages bred up by him from a Child who tho' he pretended not to like my Masters Religion was of an Ill Church himself or else he wou'd never have forsook his Master as he did and like his Predecessor Absalom of old wou'd seem to pity the Tenants because there was none to do 'em Justice setting himself up for a Patriot in a Place where he had nothing to do for his Estate lay in another County By these and such-like Clandestine Proceedings he had so far alienated the hearts of my Masters Tenants from him and many of his own Servants likewise that his Interest was very great among ' em And my Master happening to lop down some over-grown Trees that stood before his Mansion-house and hinder'd his Prospect his Son-in-law caus'd it to be insinuated among the Tenants that this was a Breach of the Fundamental Constitution that by the Laws of the Mannor it cou'd not be done but was an Arbitrary thing and tended to the destruction of the Tenants all whose Woods he might cut down upon the same Pretence And then pretending for the Security of their Religion and Liberties to assist them against these Encroachments which were occasion'd by some Evil Servants of his Father's which ought to be removed he raises the Posse Comitatus of the County where he liv'd and having got several of the Tenants to joyn with him comes upon the Estate turns my Master his Lady and Son out of Doors and seizes on all that was Valuable there commiting so great a Ravage and Havock upon the Estate that a hundred years will hardly make good again turning all his Servants out of Doors having first Stript them of what they had except such as were in his Interest for the only Crime of being Faithful to our Master Whose Disconsolate Circumstances now in his Old Age troubles me more than my own He has indeed one Friend at the Expence of whose generous Charity he has been supported ever since he was dispossess'd of his Estate This Friend commenc'd a Suit at Law with my Masters Son-in-Law for the Recovery of his Estate and said he wou'd never give over till he had accomplish'd it which gave us all great hopes of seeing good Days again But after a Law-Suit of Ten Years continuance first in one Court and then in another my Master's Friend being almost ruin'd by it his Son-in-Law having the largest Purse being in Possession and Feeing high and Corrupting all the Judges with Bribes he forc'd him at last for all his great Boasts to my Master to comply with him so that there is an Agreement made between 'em and he now owns the Son-in-Law for the Right Landlord and all the Tenants have acknowledg'd him for such and pay their Rents to him and all this without any Provision made for my Old Master or his Young Son or any of his Servants So that now all our hopes of help are become hopeless and we have nothing left us but a Prospect of certain Ruine as you may see by the following Scheme of our present Condition A knagged Staff is our Companion our Inn is at Beggars Bush Duke Humphry is our Hoste and Mother Need our Hostess our Bed is the Earth the Air serves us for Curtains and the Sky for a Canopy Our Meat is only Sighs our Drink is our Tears our Sauce Hunger and our Physick Patience which being forc'd is only a Medicine for a Mad Dog Judge now Gentlemen continu'd this Antiquated Servant if I have not great reason in such a hopeless State to be Melancholly Being reduc'd to so low an Ebb of Fortune and depriv'd of that whch is the Relief of the most Miserable I mean Hope which as I said in our present Circumstances is become hopeless This is indeed a Melancholly Story said another of the Passengers that sat by him but sure there must be something more in it Why shou'd the Son turn his Father-in-Law out of Doors and raise the Posse Comitatus without any Provocation What signify'd the cutting down of a few Trees That cou'd be no great matter Besides they were his own and who cou'd hinder him To this Mr. Melancholly reply'd You mistake the Case Sir it was not so much the Cutting down the Trees that was only a Pretence It was the Young Son that was the Provocation for he being the Heir the Hopes of the Inheritance was thereby cut off Had it not been for this my Master might have cut down all the Trees on the Ground if he wou'd The Case was truly hard Reply'd the Passenger again for a Father to be turn'd out of Doors thus by his Children and shews 'em to be Extreamly Unnatural But pray what became of the Youngest Daughter for you don't tell us what concern she had in the matter The Youngest Daughter reply'd the Old Gentleman always liv'd with her Father and so lov'd him the best of the two but being Inveigl'd by her Brother and