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To trace with preci&longs;ion all the
cau&longs;es, great and &longs;mall, which operated to
the di&longs;memberment of John Bull's e&longs;tate,
would be no ea&longs;y ta&longs;k; &longs;ome of them perhaps,
were &longs;ecret, but of &longs;uch, as were
open to ob&longs;ervation, we &longs;hall endeavour
to &longs;ketch out the principal.

It is well known that he was of a choleric
habit, and that tho&longs;e who were acquainted
with his humor and pa&longs;&longs;ions,
could manage and impo&longs;e upon him at
their plea&longs;ure. Had he been let alone to
pur&longs;ue his own bu&longs;ine&longs;s him&longs;elf, his plain,

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natural good &longs;en&longs;e, and genero&longs;ity of
mind, would have kept him clear of many
difficulties; but he had his advi&longs;ers, his
hangers on, his levee hunters, his toad
eaters, and &longs;ycophants, forever about him,
who, like a parcel of blood &longs;uckers, could
never have enough to glut their voracity.

When the fore&longs;t was fir&longs;t occupied by
the tenants, Bull had a wife[50] who minded
her own dome&longs;tic bu&longs;ine&longs;s, and did not
concern her&longs;elf with his landed intere&longs;t.
The lea&longs;es and grants were made out in
his name, and he was &longs;uppo&longs;ed to be the
owner or proprietor; but the lady whom
he had married after his &longs;econd &longs;ickne&longs;s
was very a&longs;&longs;uming, and in&longs;i&longs;ted on having
her hand in the management of all his affairs.
She vi&longs;ited the compting hou&longs;e,
and made the clerks &longs;hew her their books;
&longs;he overhalled the &longs;teward's accounts, and
in&longs;pected his corre&longs;pondence; &longs;he not
only looked after the rents and incomes
of the fore&longs;t, but even intruded into the

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hou&longs;ehold concerns of the tenants, and
affected to call her&longs;elf their mother, because
&longs;he had taken &longs;ome care of one or
two of them in their fir&longs;t fetting out, although
mo&longs;t of them &longs;carcely ever had
&longs;een her face, or had any acquaintance
with her, but by hear&longs;ay.

It mu&longs;t be ob&longs;erved, al&longs;o, that this
woman had engaged Mr. Bull in &longs;ome
expen&longs;ive law&longs;uits and &longs;peculations, which
had got him deeply into debt, and he was
obliged to hire money of u&longs;urers to carry
her &longs;chemes into execution. Had &longs;he,
at the &longs;ame time, introduced that frugality
and economy into the family, which
her duty ought to have prompted her to,
this debt might have been kept down;
but the &longs;warm of harpies which were continually
about her, and the cour&longs;e of
gambling which was carried on under her
connivance and direction, &longs;wallowed up
all the profits of the trade, and incomes
of the land; while the luxury and di&longs;&longs;i

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pation of the family increa&longs;ed, in proportion
as the means of di&longs;charging the debt
decrea&longs;ed. In &longs;hort, Mr. Bull was reduced
to that humiliating condition, which,
by whatever fa&longs;hionable name it may now
go, was formerly called petticoat-government.

During the law&longs;uit with Lewis and
Lord Strut,[51] concerning the fore&longs;t, there
had been a great intercour&longs;e with the
tenants. Many of Bull's &longs;ervants and
retainers, who were employed as bailiffs
and attornies, and their deputies, had
been very conver&longs;ant with them, and were
entertained at their hou&longs;es, where they always
found whole&longs;ome victuals, jolly fire
&longs;ides, and warm beds. They took much
notice of every thing that pa&longs;&longs;ed, a&longs;ked
many que&longs;tions, and made many remarks
on the goodne&longs;s of the land, the plea&longs;ant
&longs;ituation of the hou&longs;es, the clean and
thriving condition of the children, who

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were always ready to wait them, to clean
their boots, hold their &longs;tirrups, open and
&longs;hut the gates for them, and the like little
nece&longs;&longs;ary &longs;ervices, as well bred children
in the country are wont. The remarks
which the&longs;e per&longs;ons made, when they got
home, favored rather of envy, than of
gratitude or affection. Some of them
would &longs;ay: “Tho&longs;e fellows live too well
in the fore&longs;t; they thrive too fa&longs;t; the
place is too good for them; they ought
to know who is their ma&longs;ter; they can
afford to pay more rent; they ought
to pay for the help they have had; if it
had not been for Ma&longs;ter Bull, and the
a&longs;&longs;i&longs;tance which he has lent them, they
would have been turned out of doors;
and now they are to reap the benefit of
his exertions, while he, poor man, is to
pay the co&longs;t.”

There were not wanting &longs;ome, in the
families of the Fore&longs;ters them&longs;elves, who
had the meanne&longs;s to crouch to the&longs;e fellows,
and &longs;upplicate their favour and

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interest with Mr. Bull, to recommend them
to &longs;ome po&longs;ts of profit, as under&longs;tewards,
collectors of rent, clerks of receipts, and
the like pretty offices. The&longs;e beggarly
curs would repeat the &longs;ame language, and
hold corre&longs;pondence with the bailiffs, attornies,
&c. after they had got home.
Whenever any trifling quarrel happened
in the families of the tenants, they would
magnify it and fill their letters with complaints
of the licentiou&longs;ne&longs;s of the people,
and plead for a tighter hand to be held
over them.

Such &longs;peeches as tho&longs;e were frequently
made, and &longs;uch letters read, in the hearing
of Mr. Bull's wife and &longs;teward.
Their language grew by degrees to be
the current language of the family, and
Bull him&longs;elf li&longs;tened to it. His choler
ro&longs;e upon the occa&longs;ion, and when his
hangers on ob&longs;erved it, they plied him
with &longs;tronger do&longs;es, till his jealou&longs;y and
hatred were excited, and a complete revolution
in his temper, with regard to

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his tenants, took place, agreeably to the
mo&longs;t &longs;anguine and malevolent wi&longs;hes of
his and their enemies.

The fir&longs;t effect of this change was, that
his clerks were ordered to charge not only
the prices of the goods, which the tenants
&longs;hould purcha&longs;e, but to make them
pay for the paper[52] on which their bills of
parcels and notes of hand were written,
and that at a very exorbitant rate. This
was &longs;o intolerable an abu&longs;e, and withal &longs;o
mean, pitiful, and beggarly an expedient
to pick their pockets, that they held a
meeting among them&longs;elves, and re&longs;olved
not to buy any more of his goods, as long
as this impo&longs;ition la&longs;ted; and by way of
contempt, they hanged and burned the
effigies of the &longs;teward, and other per&longs;ons
who were &longs;u&longs;pected of having advi&longs;ed to
the&longs;e new mea&longs;ures.

The re&longs;entment &longs;hewn by the tenants
on this occa&longs;ion was quite unexpected.

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The &longs;ecret favourers, and real authors of
the mi&longs;chief, began to be afraid that they
had gone too far for the fir&longs;t attempt.
Bull's journeymen were in an uproar about
it, left by the failure of his trade,
they &longs;hould be out of bread; and to
&longs;horten the &longs;tory, he was obliged to give
up the point of making them pay for the
paper, though Madam had the &longs;ingular
mode&longs;ty to make a declaration, that it was
a mere matter of expediency, and that &longs;he
had the &longs;ole power and right of dominion
over them, notwith&longs;tanding Mr. Bull's
mo&longs;t gracious conce&longs;&longs;ion at that time.[53]

This was con&longs;idered by the tenants as
a mo&longs;t impudent and barefaced assumption;
for whatever rights Mr. Bull might
pretend to have, as their old ma&longs;ter and
landlord, yet they never had any idea of
a mi&longs;tre&longs;s over them; and though they
very complai&longs;antly returned him their
thanks for his pre&longs;ent goodne&longs;s, yet as

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they &longs;u&longs;pected that there was more mischief
hatching, they began to inquire more
narrowly than ever into his right and title
to the land, on which they lived.
They looked over old parchments and
memorandums, con&longs;ulted council learned
in the law, and after due deliberation,
they were fully convinced, that their own
title was, at lea&longs;t, as good as his, and that
they had a right to refu&longs;e him any rent or
acknowledgment, if it were prudent for
them to exerci&longs;e it.

Mr. Bull's jealou&longs;y was now increa&longs;ed
with regard to their intentions, and his
&longs;cribbling retainers frequently accu&longs;ed
them of ingratitude and di&longs;obedience, and
a long premeditated de&longs;ign to &longs;et up for
independence; a thing which they had
not yet thought of, and probably never
would, if this abu&longs;ive treatment had not
put it into their heads.

But though by tho&longs;e means they were
led into an inquiry, and a train of

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thinking, which were quite new to them; yet
as old habits are not ea&longs;ily broken, and
their affection for their ma&longs;ter was very
&longs;trong, they endeavoured, with a candor
which did them honor, to transfer the
blame from him to his wife and &longs;teward,
to who&longs;e machinations they knew he was
a dupe. The&longs;e bad coun&longs;ellors &longs;oon renewed
their attempts in another &longs;hape, by
rai&longs;ing the rent, and putting an advanced
price upon the goods, and by means of
additional clerks, packers, porters, watchmen,
draymen, &c. who were continually
in waiting, and to all of whom fees were
to be paid, the trade laboured under great
embarra&longs;&longs;ments, and &longs;ome of the fore&longs;ters
were quite di&longs;couraged, others were vexed
and impatient, while &longs;ome of the better
tempered of them, endeavoured to persuade
the re&longs;t to keep up the communication
as long as they could. They were
loth to quarrel with their old ma&longs;ter, and
yet could not pocket the affronts and abuses
to which they were daily expo&longs;ed.

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During this &longs;ullen interval, many letters
pa&longs;&longs;ed, many books and precedents
were examined, and much ink was &longs;hed, in
a controver&longs;y, which, however incapable
of a deci&longs;ion in this way, might have been
compromi&longs;ed, if Mr. Bull's fir&longs;t thoughts
had been as good as his &longs;econd; but he
was &longs;o completely under management, as
not to &longs;ee his true intere&longs;t. It was a common
&longs;aying among his neighbors, “John
Bull's wit comes afterward;” and in fact
it did not come in this ca&longs;e, till too late,
for, when a cau&longs;e once gets into the law,
there are &longs;o many quirks, eva&longs;ions, demurs,
and procra&longs;tinations, that it is impossible
to make a retreat, till one or both
of the parties have &longs;everely &longs;marted for
their temerity.

eaf005.n50

[50] Parliament.

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