 to remember that
Barnaby
had once recovered his Purse from a Highway-Man, determined as far as possible to preserve the Property of his old Friend. For this Purpose he kept warily and cheaply on the defensive; and, while he held a watchful Eye over the Motions of the Adversary, he followed him close through a thirteen Years Labyrinth of Law-Forms; and, what with Exceptions to Bills and Replies, expensive Commissions for Examination of Witnesses, Demurrer, Imparlance and Essoign; with Hearings, and Rehearings, Defer of Issue thereon, Costs of Suit and Costs of Office; he pretty nearly exhausted both the Purse and the Patience of the valorous Plaintiff
Walter Warmhouse.
Whereupon his prudent Patron, the good Sergeant
Craw,
deemed it high time to consent to a Motion for referring the Case to the Arbitration and Award of certain Umpires, though not of his Client's choosing, as at first proposed.
Soon after this Order, Sergeant
Craw
had occasion to travel to the farther Parts of
Essex,
and his Road led to the Concerns of his old Client
Walter Warmhouse.
Here,
Walter
happened to meet him, and warned him of the manifold
Dangers of the Way,
and of
the Numbers of Thieves and Highwaymen that infested the Passages that lay just before him.
And pray then, very smoothly says the Sergeant, is there no way through your Fields Mr.
Warmhouse?
there is, Sir, said
Warmhouse,
as good as any in
England.
And may I not be permitted to pass? Most safely, and a thousand welcomes.
Hereupon, Client
Warmhouse
opened the Gate that led from the Road into the Fields, and in issued the Equipage of his learned Advocate and kind Patron.
Goodman
Warmhouse
was mounted on a round ambling Nag, and rode much at his Ease by the Chariot of his
Malefactor.
They chatted, as they went, about the Prices of Cattle and Improvement of Lands, the Fall and Rise of Grain, the Necessity of Industry; and above all, of the Advantage of good Enclosures, which, as the Sergeant observed, were Emblems of the
English
Laws, and secured every Man's Property from Question or Encroachment.
While thus they beguiled the Way,
Walter
led his respectable Patron through this Field and that Field, and through you Gate and the other Gate; and now went a' Head like a Fox, and now doubled like a Hare; till, having mazed it and circled it for the Space of three Hours, he finally conducted the Sergeant to the very Gate at which he had first entered.
How, how! exclaims the Sergeant, methinks
