referred to him he was willing all should know that what he did therein should not be Clandestinely but openly and above-board or to that effect And he desired me to give him the true state of the Case in Writing because I lived remote from him and N. Hall being his Neighbour should have liberty to make his Objections and to represent his Case also I therefore drew up the state of the Case in substance the same as I have given it here before but more large with the Circumstances of it And some time after the said Counsellor gave forth his Award or Judgment under his Hand as followeth HAving perused well weighed and considered of this state of the Case between O. S. and N. H. whereto as a Neighbour I have been no Stranger I should be short to Truth and Justice should I not truly declarto whomsoever may please to take notice hereof That it is my Judgment that the said O. S. hath in all the Transactions thereof fully acquitted himself as a prudent and upright Person and ought not to be persecuted so causlesty by the said N. H. by various Rumours to the contrary as of late he hath done in divers places after this Matter had been fully and freely discussed in an open and free Meeting at West Chawlow c. Michael Mallett About the same time the Counsellor Judging it needful to inform A. Bonifield how he had found the right of the Matter to stand wrote him a Letter in answer to that he received from him a Copy of which here followeth Loving Friend Abraham Bonifield HAving not long since received from thee a Letter without Seal of the 28th of the Month last past I take my self to be under some Obligation to disabuse thy hitherto mis-informed by N. H. understanding in relation to that Matter transacted between him and O. S. which I have not failed very carefully to examine being invited thereto by the Subscription of some Friends of Reading whom I have some though not much knowledge of but think worthy of such satisfaction as well as thy self being to refer the Examination thereof to me though I did think it needless the same before having been publickly and fairly discussed in a free and open Meeting at West Chawlow where were present divers very sensible and I hope very real Friends of thy Neighbourhood and then ordered that the said N. H. should acquiesce Though since he ceases not very cauflesly to fill thine and the Ears of others with very unjust Complaints of O. S. who hath delivered to me the true state of the Case in Writing whereof I have Transcribed a Copy for his better Vindication which may be at any time ready for thy view when thou may'st think fit to make my Wife who hath formerly given thee so much light as to this Affair as might perhaps prevent any prejudice therein and me happy with thy good Company here where thou'lt not fail of an hearty Welcome from him who is Thy truly Loving Friend Michael Mallett Ledencombe Regis 9. Mensis 11. 169â— Now if Abraham Bonifield had not been extremly darkened with Envy how could he have dared to abuse and slander me as he hath done in this Business of N. Hall and his Wife when at the same time and before he knew that the Matter had been heard and examined by a Monthly Meeting of Friends and I clear'd therein that the Matter had been examined by a Quarterly Meeting of Friends and I again cleared therein that the Matter had a third time been heard and examined by Counsellor Mallett to whom it was partly through A. B's means referred and I cleared therein and the blame laid upon N. Hall for accusing me without Cause It is sad to consider that A. B. should act thus against so clear evidence and his own knowledge but so far hath his Envy carried him that he sticks not to pervert the Judgment given by Counsellor Mallett for thus he says of him p. 38. And as to Counsellor Mallett though he says that thee hast dealt fairly by them as in respect to Law but did not nor could not as in respect to Tenderness and Christianity Now the Reader may observe that these terms viz. in respect to Law to Tenderness and Christianity are not Counsellor Mallett's words but words thrust in as his by Abraham Bonifield Counsellor Mallett in the Judgment he gave and which I have before recited did not say that I had dealt fairly by them as in respect to Law though A. B. hath the Impudence to Charge him with saying so much less did he say That he did not nor could not say I had dealt fairly with them as in respect to Tenderness and Christianity which A. B. falsly adds but he used full and comprehensive Terms to express his Judgment by namely That the said O. S. hath in all the Transactions thereof fully acquitted himself as a prudent and upright Person In all the Transactions thereof Doth that respect only Law Or doth it not include Tenderness and Christianity too If I did in Counsellor Mallett's Judgment fully acquit my self as an upright Person in all the Transactions of that Business with what Face or Conscience could A. B. affirm as he does That Counsellor Mallett did not nor could not say I had dealt fairly by them as in respect of Tenderness and Christianity I do look upon Counsellor Mallett to have more Tenderness and Christianity than to think I could fully acquit my self as a prudent and upright Person in all the Transactions of that Business without Tenderness and Christianity And others may from hence know A. B. better than heretofore they have and beware how they trust themselves to his Prudence and Uprightness if it be void of Tenderness and Christianity I might further enlarge on this Subject from some passages in that Judgment given by Counsellor Mallett and in his Letter to A. B. and there-from shew A. B. that he hath rendred himself in the Counsellor's Judgment Vnjust and a Persecutor For in that Letter he expresly calls those Complaints wherewith N. H. filled A. B's Ears against me very unjust Complaints what then but very unjust can A. B. be in charging those Complaints on me And in his Judgment the Counsellor says I ought not be persecuted so causlesly by the said N. H. by various Rumours to the contrary that is as if I had not acted as an upright Person Now if this was Persecution in N. H. how much a greater Persecutor is A. Bonifield who hath published these unjust Complaints against me in print and that with his aggravating Observations on them after he knew they had been judged unjust both by the Monthly and Quarterly Meetings and afterwards by him to whom they were referred to be heard and ended But I forbear enlarging and most willingly leave it to the Judgment of that Holy Witness and Judgment-seat which A. B. hath too presumptuously appealed to as he will find to his Sorrow one
extream severely and cruelly with him that I had taken advantage upon him had Circumvented Cheated or Oppressed him to enrich or advantage my self That the Reader therefore may have a right understanding of the matter I will give a true and plain account thereof and then leave it to his Judgment In the 4th Month 1690. Nicholas Hall being Arrested for Debt and likely to be carried to Goal his Wife through much importunity and by persuasion of some Friends prevailed with me and William Austel a Friend of Ore who were both of us Trustees for certain Orphans and had some Money of theirs in our hands to lend some of the said Orphans's Money to Nicholas Hall to keep him out of Prison and he and his Wife did agree to Mortgage some Land which was her Joynture for the Security of the Money Accordingly a Mortgage thereof was made to W. A. and me for one year for 43 l. to the use of the said Orphans When this Money had laid about two years the Children to whom it did belong came to be of age to receive the said Money and we knew not how to come by it again For by that time Hall was in Prison for Debt and we had no way to raise the Money unless we should have seized on the Land that was Mortgaged for it which we were unwilling to do because we would not use any Rigour towards Hall So that we were necessitated to assign the faid Mortgage to one of the Children and she being a Woman and Married to one Francis Clarke the Money due thereon being part of her Portion And to shew what favour we could to N. Hall although there was near two years Interest due upon the Mortgage when we assigned it yet we did not charge that to Francis Clarke to the intent that he might be the more kind to N. Hall in respect of his Poverty This is in short the true State of the Case by which it doth appear that I helped N. Hall to Money at a pinch of need and when he was in a great straight to save him from going to Goal I never Sued him for the Money again I never Seized the Land that was Mortgaged for it though the Mortage was forfeited by non-payment of the Money And he knows in his Conscience that I never received any Money at all on this account first nor last from him but one half years Interest for the Childrens use Yet he charges me with having wronged him and taxes me with Unjust Unmerciful and Unchristian Actions and demands of me the Money which my hard Heart as he falsly says hath wrong'd him of But whether he in thus belying and abusing me and A. B. in abetting him and publishing his Lyes for him in Print hath not grosly abused me let the indifferent Reader judge But A. B. is more to blame than ordinary in this case For before he Published these false Charges against me he knew they had been heard three times over and I each time declared Innocent and Hall was blamed for his causeless Clamours against me viz. First at a Monthly Meeting and afterwards at a Quarterly Meeting as the Records belonging to the said Meetings doth fully demonstrate But sometime before the said Quarterly Meeting I having heard that N. Hall had been with Abraham Bonifield with his Complaints and Papers and A. B. made a noise and pudder about it I writ a Letter to him and therein plainly and briefly signified the true State of the Case between N. Hall and my self and that I never did him any wrong nor gave him the least Cause or occasion to complain against me To this effect very tenderly I wrote to prevent his being abused by N. Hall's false Stories But alas A. B. was so glad that he had catcht hold of something which he hoped would make against me that so far as I can understand he encouraged Hall in his Clamours against me as much as in him lay For I being at Reading in the 10th Month 1694. about other business N. Hall being brought in by A. B. his Advocate intruded his impertinent matter against me and A. B. urged me much to make Hall satisfaction for the wrong which he said I had done him I told them both to this effect That I never did Hall wrong and that the matter had been already twice heard by Friends and determined But they were so eager upon me to have it referred that to leave them the more without excuse I said to N. Hall before several others There is thy Neighbour Michael Malet I am content that he shall hear the Matter and to stand to his award This Michael Malet is a Counsellor at Law who lives in the same Town where N. Hall lives a Man of note in the Country and one that is well affected to Friends With this offer of mine N. Hall seemed greatly pleased and so I left them After I was gone they unknown to me drew up a short Paper signifying that N. Hall and I had agreed to refer his Matter to M. Malet aforesaid and some that were present set their Hands to it and sent it to the said Counselor by N. Hall And to back the bufiness A. B. sent a Letter to him at the same time by the same Bearer of which having obtained a Copy I insert it here that the Reader may observe how much this Envious Man busied himself in that which did not concern him The Letter was thus Loving Friend Counsellor Mallett AFter my true and engaged Love unto thee and thy Wife with thy Son if at home The occasion of this is to inform thee That thy Neighbour Nicholas Hall being here at Reading and the Case of the Difference between him and Oliver Sansom accidentally laid before several of us here in order for a hearing and to have Justice done him whereupon it was agreed that the Matter in Difference betwixt them should be referred unto thee to both determine and end it betwixt them I therefore only intreat thee to do the poor Man Justice for it is to be feared that it hath been hard for him to obtain it hitherto But if Ol. S. do refuse it or take any indirect way either to evade or prevent his having it happily it will be seen that Nicholas can find some that will stand by him in his Case so far as to do him Justice though a Poor Man and O. S. a Rich one Reading the 28th of the 10th Month 1694. Thy Loving Friend Abraham Bonifield By this Letter the Reader may observe how forward A. B. was not only to busie himself in other Folks Matters but to reflect upon the Monthly and Quarterly Meetings insinuating as if Nicholas Hall could not obtain Justice there Shortly after I being at a Meeting at Chawlow where Counsellor Mallett also was after the Meeting was ended and before Friends parted he acquainted them that he had received the aforesaid Letter and Paper and that inasmuch as the Matter was
content to joyn Issue with him upon all his Three Appeals and to abide the Judgment both of God's Witness in the Hearts of his People at present and of Christ himself hereafter at the great day nor do I fear the Censure of any who have Eyes of their own and dare and will use them aright And had not Abraham Bonifield called his Book A True and Impartial Account of Vnchristian Forcing Severe Ways Arbitrary and Indirect Methods c. I should not perhaps have so much regarded his Personal Reflections upon my self though they are very Foul and False as to have bestowed an Answer on him But for the Honour of Truth and clearing of other Friends concerned therein as well as my self and to prevent his Deceiving and Misleading any who do not so well know him I think fit to lay open and unravel his Spiders Web which is his own Phrase p. 26 not doubting to manifest to the indifferent Reader that his Account which he calls True and Impartial is Vntrue and Partial that his Cry of Oppression by Vnchristian Forcing Severe Ways c. is as Causeless as he is Clamorous and that he hath knowingly wronged me in those Wicked Reports he hath Published concerning me Yet before I enter upon his Book it self his Epistle to the Reader lying in my way and being so bulky as to take up ten pages it may be thought much if I should wholly pass over it without taking any notice of it Some few Observations therefore I think fit to make on some few Passages in it He begins with as much Smoothness as he can to insinuate himself into his Reader pretending much to Truth and Plainness but he cannot hold to that long He quickly falls into Heat Anger Railing and bitter Language and in that heat runs into a sort of Prophetick Strain denouncing Judgments against others and undertaking after his manner to foretel what shall befal them whom he calls Proud and Haughty Minded But galloping on too fast without true Sense or due Cosinderation he Stumbles Falls and Foyls himself most shamefully for speaking of those whom he calls Proud and Haughty Minded he says They have digressed from the Truth and too far played the Harlot thereby with the Lord the ancient Rock of their Salvation Did ever any Man of sober Sense drop such an Expression as this The Prophets of God did often reprove backsliding Israel of old for going a Whoring from God Hosea 4.12 and chap. 9.1 And playing the Harlot with others Ezek. 16.28 Jer. 3.1 But whoever heard before of playing the Harlot with the Lord By this the Reader may taste and see how far A. Bonifield is Digressed or gone aside from Truth and what Spirit guided him in Writing his Book which hath led him to use such a gross and unsound Expression This is in the 5th page of his Epistle And in the same he gives his Reader to understand whereby the Reader may see and observe what a Quarrelsome Man he has been that this is not the first Difference no not by several that he has been concerned in with Friends in that Town of Reading And as if he Gloried in this which he might rather be ashamed of he divides them into Small or Pettyones and more General or most Capital ones It seems Small or Petty matters will serve for a ground or occasion of difference with such a Pettish Spirit as he is of But he need not boast of that For it is not for his Honour And indeed if he had had any real regard for the Honour of Truth and the Reputation of that Christian Society which he once professed himself a Member of and is now without just cause become an Enemy to it would have restrained him from Publishing Differences long since past and gone especially wherein he himself was so deeply concerned and thereby to expose both the one and the other to the Scorn and Contempt of such prophane Readers as his Book may go amongst But he must gratifie his Envy though he wound himself in endeavouring to wound others Three Differences therefore he here sets forth which he calls more General or most Capital ones The first he says was referred to be heard and ended by Jo. Osgood and John Kilborne wherein several others he says were likewise concerned as well as himself Those words several others are a common Shelter for him to hide himself under when he would make his Reader believe that other Friends took part with him in his Quarrels but how false he is in that I shall shew anon when I come to Examine his Book it self What that Difference was about he has not told his Reader Generals serve Slanderers best to lurk under In general therefore he says Several Charges were drawn up stated and given against W. L. and were most of them such too says he as I think searce ever the like in the Nature and Degree of them as with respect to W. L. his Arrogance and Pride hath at any time come before Friends since they were a People Is not this set out at an high rate From this general Account what could the Reader conceive but that W. L. was the height of Pride and Arrogance Whereas they that know him know him to be no such Man and it 's more applicable unto A. Bonifield himself 'T is true he had drawn up many Charges and written many Scandalous Papers against W. L. tending to defame him But when the matters came to be looked into and examined the Friends to whom it was referred did not judge W. L. to be guilty of that which A. B. had charged him with But A. B. thereupon burned his own Papers himself that same Evening at John Buys Kiln-fire and whether this was not a Testimony against what he had written let the Reader judge And was it not then agreed that whoever revived the said Difference again should be deemed the offending Person He goes on saying And the Remarks of the aforesaid made upon both his Charges Person Qualifications W. L. may happily still remember Whom does he mean by the aforesaid He must mean either J. O. and J. K. to whom he says the Difference was referred or himself and his several others who he says were concerned in it as well as himself If he means those two Friends J. O. and J. K. W. L. doth not at all remember that they made any Remarks upon his Charges Person or Qualifications And he believes they were Honester and Wiser Men than to make Remarks upon his Person or Qualifications But if by the aforesaid he means himself and his pretended several others concerned with him it shews what Cavilling Spirits he and they were of and what Quarrelsome Qualifications they had that would go to make Remarks upon W. L's Person and Qualifications What Persons or Qualifications A. B's several others were of I know not but A. B. I think might very well have let W. L's Person and Qualifications alone And notwithstanding
with the Quarterly Meeting for not letting him Read his Complaint in the open Meeting and thereupon refuses tryal and nothing will serve him but to Appeal to the Yearly Meeting Judge now Reader whether this Man seeks Peace or no and studies to be quiet or whether he does not rather bend all his Wits and Force to create and continue Contention and Strife that no end may be put to Differences When we saw he was obstinately bent to answer his own Will and would not be perswaded to yield to Truth and Reason we told him to this effect That we held our selves obliged for Truth sake and in discharge of that Trust committed to us by the Quarterly Meeting to do what we could to stop the further spreading of those Contentions among them and should endeavour to find out by enquiry amongst the Friends of the Town the true state of the Difference that we might make a more certain Report thereof to the Quarterly Meeting which had imployed us And this being in the Forenoon we desired another Meeting in the Afternoon of the same Day with the Friends of the Town This was not only proposed openly but A. B. was desired to bring with him what Friends he pleased What could be fairer than this Would any but a guilty Man have found fault with it Yet against this A. B. exclaims grievously and against us for it as if never had the like Injury been done Thus he sets it forth It 's to be noted that when O. S. with the 〈◊〉 of the Seven saw that I was not satisfied to leave the Matter to them though haâ—ing as I thought given them sufficient Reason for it that he with the rest did immediately the same Day of their own accord without either the Knowledge Approbation Consent or Agreement of the Quarterly Meeting appoint another Meeting the latter part of the same Day both contrary to all Methods Order Practice or President in the Case ever heard of or used that I know of amongst us before c. Is not this a Ridiculous Exception for any one to make especially for one that fain would pass for a Wise Man Would he have had us to have staid near Three Months to have asked the Quarterly Meeting which had left the whole Matter to us whether if one Meeting about it would not suffice we might appoint two And whether if we were not satisfied in the Forenoon we might not meet again in the Afternoon He carries on his Cavil further blaming us for inviting both Men and Women and they too only such as we best liked and approved of To the first I say both Men and Women were proper to be present for he had complained on behalf of others as well as himself who might be Women as well as Men for ought we knew and he would not tell us who or what they were To the latter I say we shut out no Friends but desired the Company of such especially as were most sensible of Truth 's Concerns Accordingly the greater part of the Friends those especially that were most sensible of the hurt and mischief of these Dissentions met with us and when we had sate together some time waiting on the Lord in his Holy Fear we desired the Parties who were the Accusers and them also who were Accused to withdraw that we might enquire of the Friends concerning the state of the Differences that were among them and they might inform us the more freely Accordingly W. L. and J. B. who were the Accused did withdraw But the Accusers viz. A. B. and R. S. refused to withdraw but continuing among us did strive with much vehemency to hinder the Friends from giving us an account of the Differences and by whom the Offences had entered and were continued amongst them for that we desired to know according to the Knowledge and Sense they had thereof And this one would think he had he been in the Truth that is plain and innocent would have been desirous we should know But being guilty this pinched him and angered him and in p. 4. of his Book he complains that we did then and there propose unto them this following intricate improper and impertinent Question viz. Whether W. L. and J. B. or A. B. himself were the Cause of the Disturbance that had happened in their Meetings Was this an intricate Question Was it improper or impertinent to be known or asked What Question could have been more plain What more proper and pertinent to be asked than this But I perceive now he would have had us have asked another sort of Question viz. Whether those Articles and Charges that he had drawn up against W. L. and J. B. were in the Thoughts of those Friends true or false Had that been a proper or pertinent Question I pray when the Monthly Meeting before which he had laid those Articles and Charges had not examined or enquired into them but to free themselves from the trouble and difficulty thereof had referred them to the Quarterly Meeting Nay had it not been both improper and absurd for us to have put that Question to the Friends much more to have concluded any thing upon their Thoughts concerning the truth or falshood of those particular Articles and Charges when as A. B. who was the Author of them refused to submit them to us or let us have the examining of them Yet the Friends did severally according to the Experience they had the Observations they had made and the Sense God had given unto them declare That A. Bonifield himself was the man that had frequently broken the Peace of the Publick Meetings by smiting at honest Friends which had brought great Grief and Burden upon many tender Hearted ones And that they did believe that W. L. and J. B. were not such men as he had represented them to be viz. to seek to Exercise Lordship over their Brethren But that by long Experience they had found them to be faithful Consciencious Serviceable Friends After we had received this Account from the Friends of the place A. B. having utterly refused to bring the particular matters to an hearing before us in order to be ended by us we who were appointed by the Quarterly Meeting withdrew among our selves to confer together about the matter and to draw up a Report thereof to be made to the next Quarterly Meeting And before we went away it arose in our Hearts in the Love of God to write a few Lines tenderly to A. B. to persuade him to be quiet which we did as followeth Abraham Bonifield IN the tender Love of God desiring the Peace and Welfare of thy Soul and of all the Called of God do we send these Lines to thee to entreat and beseech thee to study to be quiet and keep low to the measure of God's Spirit given to thee to profit withal and to forbear any more smiting at thy Fellow Servants and disturbing the Peace of the Meetings of God's People to the
Day He insinuates another Charge against me by way of Question thus And was it not also plainly proved against thee at a Meeting held at William Lambol 's the 26th of the 10th Month 1694. and that before several of thy own Friends and others also that thee hadst been both Remiss in and False and Treacherous also to thy Trust in the Case of Richard Daniell late of Reading in the which thee wast concerned as an Executor with L. K. to the Will of the aforesaid Daniell To this I Answer No I believe that not one of my own Friends as thou calls them had any such Thoughts in the least but were satisfied that I had acted uprightly both as a Man and a Christian in that Affair but I think I need say no more in this to A. B. but to put him in Remembrance if he has willingly forgot it how that above 14 Years ago at a Monthly Meeting at Newberry I was charged with the same Matter by some of those Separatists to whom he is now gone who laboured then to hinder my Service in the Truth and among Friends and to have fastened some Reproach or Defamation upon me by it but they laboured in vain as he now doth for it was made appear to that Assembly that I had been really Consciencious and Sincere in all that I had acted and done in that Business And that which is most Remarkable in it with respect to A. B. is that he was one that appeared on my Behalf and for my Vindication in that Matter against him that Accused me The next thing I intend to take notice of is in p. 40. where he says thus Concerning the Widow Bunce of Goosie I mentioned says A. B. in the general before but I do not find her so much as named before in turning Justice and Equity backwards and not allowing them to put it into Neighbours Hands to Judge the Truth These seems to be N. Hall's words that which follows is A. B's Observations upon them thus Observe says he in a Matter of some Claim Title or Property c. yet O. S. as you see must needs have a Finger in it too as he used to do as well as engage others with him c. And therefore as hinted it appears they do and will make themselves Judges over Friends c. both in Civil as well as Spiritual Things and determine it whereas her Honest Neighbours as knew better of the Nature of the Case was wholly shut out from her Relief to her great Injury c. And which her Son resenting so very ill and unkindly hath gone since to the Priest for a Wife c. These Et-cetera's are A. B's own no less than five in seven Lines and I set them down as he has done to shew what an idle infignificant Writer he is But to proceed to answer to what he hath charged me with concerning this matter That a difference happening between the said Widow Bunce and another Friend and it being laid before the Monthly Meeting the Meeting appointed some Friends to hear the Matter and endeavour to put an end to the said Difference of them that were so appointed by the Meeting I was one and no otherwise was I concerned or had to use A. B's Phrase a Finger in it but to help with others to make it up And through the Blessing of God our endeavours therein proved Successful The Breach was made up and Friends were satisfied concerning it But what if one may be so bold as to ask had A. B. to do to put his Finger into it now so long after it hath been made up Or what other End or Design can he be supposed to have therein but either to rip up and tear open the Difference again and make a new Breach upon it if he could which is the Work of the Wicked One by suggesting as if Justice and Equity had been turned backwards and the Woman greatly Injured because both the Parties being Friends the Matter was undertaken by Friends and not left to her Honest Neighbours the Worlds People as it seems A. B. in such Cases would have or else that he designs by thus Misrepresenting the Matter to throw some more of his Dirt at me as if I had thrust my Finger into this Business as he has done his without being duly called to it and had thereby occasioned the Widow to sust in great Injury But that the Widow Bunce her self had no such apprehension concerning me nor the least distrust of my just and fair dealing with her in that business may well I think be gathered from this That after that matter was ended and over when she was to go into Ireland to live with her Daughter there she hath entrusted me as much or more than any Friend or Relation she hath in England to Receive her Rents here and to transmit them over to her in Ireland In p. 41. he taxes me with Serving him a base unworthy false deceitful trick nigh or full half a score years ago about the things that he was to buy for the Friends that were Prisoners in Newgate and which for the better accomodating of them he did he says in reality and without reserve desire my assistance to him in it in order to do them the greater kindness yet nevertheless I he says for my own Ends and Interest acted quite contrary to the said end proposed by him as well as to the Friends disadvantage that were not in a condition to so well help themselves c. This is an high Charge set forth in foul and aggravating terms He calls it a base unworthy false deceitful trick His words are not as smooth as Oyl which he says mine are p. 33. neither is it his manner to relate things plainly and fairly why did he not open what this which he calls a trick was that the Reader might understand and be able to judge whether it was as he calls it base unworthy false and deceitful He says I acted quite contrary to the end proposed by him and that I did this for my owns Ends and Interest as well as to the Friends disadvantage The End he says he proposed was to buy things for the Friends that were Prisoners for the better accommodating of them Now from his saying that I acted quite contrary to the said end proposed by him one that knows nothing either of the business or of me might suspect either that I had bought nothing at all for them but bad run away with their Money Or else that if I did buy things for them I cheated them in the buying of it and made an advantage to my self thereby And 't is likely that A. B. delivered this matter so darkly on purpose to mislead his Reader into some such ill apprehension of me But if that was his design I do hope to defeat it by giving the Reader a true and plain account of the matter so far as I can remember to the best of my knowledge