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 1500l. 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 100l. 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 400l. to pay 200l. 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 400l. 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.