_He proceeds in discovering several considerable Cheats of his Masters,
whereby he grows very rich: also some Cheats of his own, and so
concludes._
My Master (continued the Scrivener) being now possessed of a thousand
pound in ready money, there fell out an opportunity of good advantage;
(and I have observed it, that there is no loss, but profit enough to be
gained in keeping five hundred pound alwayes in a readiness in Cash,
especially in our Trade, where so many offers for sale of Land and
Houses are daily made.). The Landlord of my Masters House was lately
dead, and his Son and Heir being a wild blade, soon spent all the ready
money his Father left, and all the Debts he could well get in; and now
to selling of some of his Houses he must go, and my Master being known
to be a moneyed man, and a Scrivener, was thought the best Customer: He
therefore propounds borrowing of five hundred pound, but my Master being
now possessed of a round sum, and hoping to have a good penny-worth, was
very willing to buy. The young man and some friends were unwilling, and
could not agree upon terms, and my Master at last consents to lend the
money, provided he may have a mortgage of all that estate in that place,
which amounted to two hundred pound _per annum_, was worth three
thousand pound, and said he, you shall not need to make me an absolute
assignment or sale of it all, only a Lease at a Pepper Corn a year for
one and twenty years: But to confirm it, and for a Collateral security,
you must give me a Statute Staple, to which our young man and his
friends consented. The Lease was made, and a Statute for a thousand
pound entred into, and the money paid and lent for six moneths only. The
noise of this, and my Masters other Trading, brought him into great
esteem both with lenders and borrowers, so that his _Name_ being up, he
may lie a bed till noon, and yet get money enough. A purchase of Land in
the Country was offered, and my Master bought it for a thousand five
hundred pound, of which he borrowed upon a Lease of part of it. The six
moneths quickly came about wherein his young Landlord was to pay the
five hundred pound: but (according to my Masters expectation) he failed,
and then it was to be sold, my Master agreed to give two thousand five
hundred pound for it, and so they struck up a bargain, five hundred he
had received before, a thousand pound he made a shift to borrow upon the
mortgage of the Land he had lately purchased; (for, though as I told you
he borrowed five hundred pound of the money when he purchased the Land,
and gave a mortgage of part of it for security, yet he keeping the
principal Writings in his hands, concealed that mortgage, and now
borrowed a thousand pound more of it) five hundred pound more he raised
in ready money of his own, which was two thousand pound, and for the
other five hundred pound, the remainder of the two thousand five hundred
pound: his young Landlord took his Bond for the money, not questioning
his security for five hundred pound, that could pay two thousand pound
ready money, neither indeed had he occasion as yet for it. This being
concluded, the money being paid, and writings seal’d, my Master would
not remember to give up the Statute he had for a thousand pound, but he
had another now for five thousand pound for security of his bargain, and
the young man never so much as desired a _Defeazance_ upon the Statute,
but mark what follow’d. The youngster in short time, keeping riotous
company, wasting his body as well as purse, died; and his younger
Brother seized on his estate that was unspent: and among other things,
on my Masters Bond of five hundred pound, and soon after demanded it;
though my Master at first was non-plus’d, yet he soon bethought him of a
way how to discharge and acquit himself of it: and thereupon returned
this answer. It is very true, your Brother and I had much dealing, and I
did give him such a Bond which I am ready to pay to his Executor, which
you tell me you are, provided you pay me what he likewise owed unto me:
why, reply’d the young man, did he owe you any moneys? yea, said my
Master; and whereas you produce a Bond, which is indeed a very good
speciality, I shall produce somewhat that is higher, and indeed the
highest security that can be given for any Debt, and that is a Statute
Staple: and thereupon he produced one Statute first, that was given for
a thousand pound upon borrowing of the five hundred pound; nay, but said
the young man, I suppose that this was part of the money that was for
the purchase of your dwelling house and others; for that, said my Master
I can shew you a particular Receipt for all the money under his hand and
seal, and also a general acknowledgment in the Deed of conveyance:
wherefore this money I must have you pay me first, and afterwards I
shall talk with you further; what do you mean by further talk said the
young man? why, said my Master, I mean to have of you all that your
Brother owed me, which is much more than you think for: for he and I had
great dealings together for a greater sum of money than all this, as I
shall further shew you; and thereupon he produced the second Statute,
which was for five thousand pound. This demand of my Masters so vexed
the young man, that he departed, and soon began his course at Law
against my Master, but he took a wrong sow by the ear, for he finding
whereabouts he intended on his two Statutes, was too quick for this
youngster, and gained a _Liberate_, which he delivered to the Sheriff,
who served it upon all the estate of the deceased; so that by this means
all that was unspent of the dead young mans estate (amounted in Land to
the value of four thousand pound) came to my Masters hands, and yet he
sayes he is unsatisfied: and the young man the Brother of the deceased
cannot help it, for by this means he is bereft of all Estate to go to
Law: and when money and means is wanting, friends are scarce; besides, I
know not how he can avoid it, his Brother not having taken a
_Defeazance_, as he ought to have done. Here was a matter worth playing
the _Knave_ for, and would induce some men to leave off: but my Master
had so good success in his proceedings, that he is resolved to proceed
in them. The money that he borrowed on all the Mortgages, both
Counterfeit Leases and others, he soon paid off, and yet left himself
worth above three hundred pound _per annum_, and money in his purse.
Thus having a good estate, and now being full of imployments, both for
buying, selling, borrowing, and lending: he always keeps a good Bank of
money. If any purchase of Land come at twelve or thirteen years
purchase, he buyes it, because he knows of a Customer that will give
fifteen or sixteen. And thus he will gain five hundred pounds in a weeks
time. We lately had one business worth all the rest, and which hath now
made him weary of getting money: A Knight having a Lordship in the
Country worth two thousand pound _per annum_, comes first to borrow
money, and grants a Lease and Statute upon the borrowing of two thousand
pound: this my Master lent himself of his own money, the Knight within a
moneth or two being to marry a Daughter, wants two thousand pound more,
which was likewise promised on the same security: by this time my Master
was somewhat drained of his ready money, and knowing that the Knight
would soon be with him again, he casts about how to raise more: which
thus he does, he borrows 1500_l._ upon a Lease of part of his purchase,
of his dwelling house and others, and keeps the grand Writings in his
hands; he borrows a thousand pound on his Land in the Country, and of
another party he borrows fifteen hundred pound more upon a Lease of part
of his purchase of his dwelling house and others, keeping still the
grand Writings in his hands: and thus having eight thousand pound ready
money, he goes to the Knight, and upon treaty, agrees to give him thirty
two thousand pound for his estate, which price being concluded on, he
borrows two thousand pound upon his dwelling house and others, and then
parts from the grand Writings, and Covenants that the estate is free of
Incumbrances, though he had twice mortgaged it in part: and thus having
raised ten thousand pound, he borrows twelve thousand pound more upon
part of his new purchase, and the Knight is contented to take the
t'other ten thousand pound in full of the purchase, at two six moneths,
and only takes my Masters Bond: this was lately settled and agreed upon,
and all Writings made, and I doubt the Knight will come short of his
money; for my Master hath so many Statutes which the Knight never dreams
of, having still given them without taking _Defeazances_, that I believe
he will be cut off from his Debt, and so must the _Usurer_ that lent my
Master the twelve thousand pound upon a mortgage of part of his new
Lordship; for my Master being resolved to make this a piece of wit, and
to do his utmost to cheat them all, did the next day after the Purchase
was made, and Writings sealed, cause us to sit up all night, and make an
absolute bargain and sale of all that his new purchase to two friends in
trust, for the use of his Children, so that the Usurer who lent his
twelve thousand pounds, had not his Writings of Assignments sealed till
a week or ten dayes after, and when the time comes for payment, he may
be chous’d and defeated of all, and my Master being Master of an Estate
of two thousand pounds _per annum_, may live and laugh at them all for
their credulity; for he hath so ordered it that the Law cannot touch the
Estate, it may only reach his person, and as for that, we know it is but
a _Kings-Bench_ matter, and there he may live all his life time, and
spend like a Lord, and when he dies his Debts are paid, and his Estate
goes to his Children. But if he hath success for two or three more such
businesses as this last, he need not do so, but leave the Cheat to the
last Cast, and grow infinitely rich, as I question not but he will.
Thus, said our Scrivener, have I given you an account of my Masters way
to get money, and I have not been without mine: he would many times
permit me to cheat a little, because I assisted him and was privy to his
concerns. I have one way that brings me in twenty or thirty pounds _per
annum_; for all Deeds of Bargain and Sale are to be Enrolled in six
moneths after the date, either in _Chancery_, if it be Land or Houses
out of _London_, or in _Guild-Hall_, if within _London_ or the Liberties
thereof; and I was once forced to trot to _Chancery-lane_ four or five
times for one Deed before I could get it done, and when it was done, all
that was to be seen on the Deed was, _Inrolled_ such a Day and Year in
_Chancery_, _per me_ such a one. I seeing that, learned to write the
Hand, they use in Endorsing, and for the future only writ it my self on
the back side to shew our Clients, and that was sufficient; for not one
in a thousand is search’d for, and this is only done in case the Deed be
lost, so that I now have got the trick on't to write on the back-side my
self, and put that money the Register should have into my own pocket,
and that is a pretty quantity, for an indifferent Deed comes to twenty
shillings, at so much _per_ Roll. Forty other wayes have I to get
moneys, and indeed I need not invent wayes, for our Trade is so great
for _Procuration_ and _Continuation_, and such like, that I get money
enough more than I can well tell how to spend.
I will now conclude, onely tell you a story or two, how I have initiated
my self in this Art of _Knavery_, for my time being suddenly to expire,
I thought it necessary to try some expedients how I might live hereafter
when I came to be for my self; and knowing that my Master could not do
any thing at first without a Confederate (some body to help and assist
him) I procured the like: We had many indigent persons that came to
borrow money, some Gentlemen, others decayed and decaying Citizens;
amongst the rest a Master of a Ship, who had made so many broken voyages
that he could make no more, for he had wearied all his Friends with
holding parts of Ships with him to their great loss; but he holding to
the Proverb, _That a Sea-man is never broken till his neck is broken_,
was resolved to try his fortune one bout more, and had now with the help
of Friends made a shift to buy an old Barque of near a hundred Tun, in
which he was minded to go to Sea, partly as a Man of War, and withal to
bring home prohibited Goods from _France_. This man was an earnest
suiter to borrow an hundred pounds upon _Bottomry_, or any wayes, to
victual and fit his Ship; I finding him ingenious, after some conference
with him, and he being willing for any Undertaking, we concluded to go
half snips in the profit of his Voyage, and I would furnish him with
moneys to his content: I soon perswaded an easie friend of mine who had
more money than wit, to lend our Captain an hundred pounds, promising
him great profit, and indeed he was to have fifty in the hundred for
that Voyage, which was to be finished in two moneths, and I told him
that he might ensure his money at the _Ensurance Office_, which he did
accordingly. Our Captain being furnished with a hundred pound of the
Usurer, I made bold with an hundred pound more of my Masters, which
could not soon be missed out of the Cash, and with this the Ship was so
bravely fitted and provided with all Necessaries, that he was offered
Fraights enough. At last he concluded with one to bring over some rich
Goods, and the times being dangerous at Sea, by reason of Men of War at
Sea, he ensured five hundred pounds upon the Ship.
The Ensurers knowing this, and that the man who ensured was a
substantial Merchant, mistrusted nothing; but likewise ensured five
hundred pounds more to the Captain, because he had laid out much in
fitting the Ship, and did it as he pretended for satisfaction of the
Owners. All things being thus fitted, our Captain leaving his Policy or
Deed of Ensurance with me, put out to Sea, arrived at his Port, received
the Goods on Board, but having a parcel of trusty Blades with him, and
some who had shares in the purchase, he puts the best part of the
Merchandize on Board of a small Barque he had hired for that purpose,
and that being sent ashore to another Port, he soon after ran his Ship
ashore in such a place as he was not likely to come off, and there she
perished, he and his companions getting on shore with some small matter
of Goods in the Long-boat: He being arrived on shore, soon writ word to
me how he had sped, and I being acquainted very well with the Ensurers,
perswaded them to pay me the money he had ensured first, upon some small
rebate; and he on the other side selling the Merchandize on shore, put
it into other commodities and sent them home, and himself came home as a
distressed passenger, and here the Ensurers paid for all: Such bouts as
these they sometimes met with, and that so often, that now adayes when a
Merchant hath ensured, he had need to ensure on the Ensurers, and some
have done so.
When our Captain came home, we privately met and shared our profit, and
by this I gained two hundred pounds for my share, and this was a good
beginning; and though I hazarded to Sea, yet there was less hazard then
my Master underwent in his first attempt in Counterfeiting a Companies
Seal; for should he have been discovered, sorrow would have been his
sops. I have now and then had five or ten pound given me at a time for
altering a Will, and putting in more as Legacy to one than the Testator
intended, and this I would venture on without much hazard, if the
Testator were sick to death. My Master once made a Will, and instead of
another, made himself Executor, and I and one more of the Confederacy
were witnesses to it, by this means he gained near three hundred pound.
I have oftentimes had a Piece or two given me to make Writings in favour
of one man more than another; for in a Lease, if Rent reserved be
100_l._ _per annum_, and there be no Covenant for payment of the Rent,
when either of the parties die, if any Rent be behind due to the Lessee,
it cannot be recovered by the Executors, Administrators, or Assigns of
the Lessor, because there was no Covenant between them in behalf of
their Executors, Administrators and Assigns; and it hath been usual in
all ancient Leases to leave that Covenant out as needless, but now
people are grown wiser by experience.
In arbitration between parties there is much cunning and knavery to be
used, in drawing up an Award, or final End; for the Scrivener, if he be
a friend to, or favour either of the parties, shall do it so as that it
shall be void, or not authentick, or not obliging to one of the parties,
and yet the Arbitrators who are commonly honest harmless men, think they
have done their business, when as they have only made more work for
Lawyers.
In _Counter-Bonds_ there may be much partiality used, as also in
_Letters of Attorney_, only putting in _his use_, for _my use_, entitles
the Attorney to receive all to his own use without any account; and such
a thing as this is often slipt over, or not understood, and many a good
piece and Half-piece comes into our pockets in a year for these actions.
It was like to go very hard with one of my Masters acquaintance not long
since, for he being skilled in counterfeiting of Hands, did very
artificially counterfeit a Citizens Hand (with whom he had some small
dealing) to a Bond of 400_l._ to pay 200_l._ with interest at a day, and
when the time came he asked him before some company to pay him that
money that he then owed him: Yes, said the Citizen, I shall do it next
week, meaning a small sum which he did directly owe him, and did then
pay him, but the other then telling him of his Bond of 400_l._ and the
Citizen directly denying it, a Suit was commenced, and Tryal was had at
the _Kings-Bench_ Bar in _Westminster-Hall_, where the innocent Citizen
(seeing the confidence of the Witnesses, and indeed his own hand, as he
supposed, to the Bond, which he could not deny but it was so, or very
like) and having nothing to say, in a passion cryed out in open Court,
_to desire God to revenge his Cause, for he was utterly and absolutely
wronged_. This being so solemnly protested, made not only the Judge but
the Jury a little more inquisitive into the matter than ordinary, and
called for some papers to compare the hand with other of his
handwriting, but no difference could be found therein. The Bond thus
passing about to every one of the Jury, one of them viewing the Bond
more narrowly than ordinary, craved leave of the Judge to be discharged
of his place as a Jury-man, and to be admitted & sworn as a Witness; for
my Lord, saith he, I can say somewhat to the matter. This his request
was assented to, and he being sworn, began in this manner, _My Lord,
this Bond here in Court is pretended to be made, sealed, and delivered
nine moneths since, when, my Lord, this Paper whereon it is written,
hath not been in_ England _above four moneths_. How do you know that?
said my Lord. The Jury-man replyed, _My Lord, I am a_ Stationer _or_
Paper-seller, _and to all Paper there are several marks whereby we know
and distinguish them; As_ Pot, Piller, Crown, Cardinals-Armes, &c. _and
my Lord, this being such a sort of Paper was made by a young man in_
France, _whose mark is here, and none of it came over till within these
four moneths_. At this the Judge was satisfied, all people wondred, the
Defendant rejoyced, and the Plaintiff with his Swearers were forced to
sneak out of the Court, and could not presently be heard of.
I once was called to make a Will, and the party lying speechless,
another there present dictated to me, telling me, that the sick man he
was sure would consent to what he said, which I believing, proceeded and
finished the Will, but when I came to have him sign it, I saw that he
was dead: well, said the party that dictated, if you will be ruled by
me, this Will shall stand, and yet nobody forswear themselves, and said
he to me, you shall have a good reward for your consent. I being ready
to receive money, promised him my consent; whereupon, saith he, read the
Will, so I did: well, saith he, you see the party doth not at all
contradict what is here written, & now he shall set his hand and seal
thereto, which he did by guiding the dead mans hand: now, saith he, if
you be questioned, you may safely swear that you read the Will to him,
and he consented, or at leastwise did not contradict, and that you saw
him with his own hand sign, seal, and deliver the same. Well sir, said
I, if you are content I am; and thereupon he giving me the promised
reward, I subscribed as Witness, and left him, who soon after by vertue
of this Will possessed himself of the Estate. I had seen this trick of
putting a dead mans hand to Writings done two or three times before, and
so this was no new thing, and would not contradict any thing that was to
turn to my profit.
I could tell you thousands of these Cheats, and indeed, as one said,
there is more mischief done with a dash of the Pen, than with any thing
else in the way of Knavery and Cheating. Thus did our Scrivener conclude
his Discourse, and we calling for another pint of Wine and a Faggot,
drank and warmed our selves, and so for that time parted.
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