custome made in furtherance of mutuall accounts Vide 4 E. o. com 36. doth very much enable the prisoner to procure his liberty and pay his debt Also if the prisoner be poor and of himselfe unable to pay this toleration of their going abroad with the Keeper is a good meane for him to procure the Alms and reliefe of other charitable people thereby the sooner to purchase his liberty Whereby it appeareth what reckoning the Law maketh of them in consideration of their great hazzard by Sea through danger of shipwrack or piracy and adventure in strange Countreys by falshood and negligence of Factours or by wars between Princes the inconveniences and mischiefes whereof are not so offensive or prejudiciall to any as to Merchants whose condition as it may by a fortunate voyage be much enriched and advanced so may it by any of the mischances aforesaid be so empaired and overthrown that it may turn himselfe his wife and family to utter calamity and distresse Therefore as the hope and comfort of the wife having commonly no assurance of joynture in the City nor expectation of dower as other women have and also of the children being for the most part born to no great patrimony other then that which their fathers shall by their vertuous industry acquire doth onely depend upon the fortune of their husbands or fathers travaile it hath laudably and conscionably been observed for a custome and is yet by the wiser and better sort religiously regarded that when any Citizen of London dyeth his wife shall have the third part of his goods and the children another third part equally to be divided among them according to the proportion of his goods and himselfe another third part to dispose by his last Will and Testament at his pleasure A partition so reasonable and grounded upon so good consideration the quality and estate of the Londoners considered that if it were not approved by custome but to be proposed in the wisest and highest Court of Parliament whether it were fit to have the force of a Law I think no man unlesse he were a Timon by nature or a Diogenes by disposition no man I say possessed with common humanity would gainsay or impugn it Doth not the common Law now in force give the husband presently by the intermariage all the goods and chattells of his wife though the same bee of the value of 10000 pounds so that when shee is once his wife the Law disableth her to give or dispose any thing that was hers before And shall not the husband be bound by semblable Obligation of reason to leave his wife the third part of his goods and if the Law be in that respect defective as what Law in the world except the Law of God is without his imperfections shall not the custome supply it in such sort that no barbarous and uncharitable or cautelous and unkinde practises by deed of gift or otherwise shall disappoint or defraud the same especially here in London where the good estate of men for the most part consisteth in movables by reason of their continuall Trades and Exchanges so that their wives cannot assure themselves of their dowry commonly called thirds as they might if their husbands were seised of Lands in Fee-simple Also the comfortable society between husband and wife is of that pretious estimate and honourable reputation before God and man that there may not possibly a more sacred and strait conjunction be imagined among the children of men Charondas the Philosopher calleth them Homosipios which signifieth fed with the selfe same food And Epimenides another Philosopher calleth them Homocapnos which is as much to say as using the selfe same smoke and the selfe same manger and as it were drawing the selfe same breath Finally the Scripture giveth expresse charge to each man to tender his wife with extraordinary good offices by saying Matth. ca. 19. Mark cap. 10. 1 Cor. ca. 7. Ephes ca. 5. Thou shalt leave thy Father and Mother and cleave to thy wife If the force of custome did not enforce the matter these onely considerations were sufficient to prove that there should be nothing private nothing peculiar nothing proper but every thing in common every thing equally interested between the husband and the wife The like though not equall affection is commanded by the Apostle to the Col. 3. by the Fathers towards their children You fathers be tender and loving unto your children and discourage them not But let us see what account our common Law hath made of the like customes founded upon the love and affection between man and wife It was used of ancient time in Gavelkinde Land and hath received the allowance and judgement of a good and lawfull custome 8 H.M. 3 Pres 60. that if the husband be attainted and executed for a Felony by him committed 8 E. 2. It in can Preser 50. yet shall his wife for the solace of her losse and desolation have her dowry of his Land and also the heire shall inherite the same according to that old saying P. 35 H. 6.58 The Father to the Bough the Son to the Plough although the common law by rigorous imputation to make man more fearfull to offend in crimes of such quality extendeth the punishment though not to the persons of the wife and children yet to their fortune so farre as it may turn to their utter impoverishment and discomfort In the City of York there is a custome that the husband may enfeoffe his wife of such Land as he shall purchase which though it bee against the rule of the common Law which disableth the husband to convey any Land to his wife by feoffement or deed 12 H. 3. Pres 6.1 yet by force of the custome it was adjudged to be lawfull and effectuall Also the custome of many places in England is that the wife shall enjoy the whole Land of her husband in name of her dowry as it appeareth by M. Litt. himselfe Litt. ti Dower and the husband cannot by any cautele or devise defeat her thereof And in some other Countries they have the moity or tone part and generally by the common Law the third part In Northwales the custome is so beneficiall for wives that although they be sure of their thirds of such Land as their husbands shall chance to be seised of at any time during the mariage yet are they to have the moity or tone part not onely of his goods and moveables but also of his Leases be the terms thereof never so long 14 Eliz. Not many yeers ago the custome of Taundean was alleaged and allowed by the Court of the Kings Bench that the husband or wife whether so ever of them did happen to over-live should have the inheritance or Fee-simple Land of the other by survivor a custome verily neither contrary to reason nor repugnent to Religion as no well disposed or good husband can deny when he entreth into consideration of
A BRIEFE DISCOURSE DECLARING And approving the necessary and inviolable maintenance of THE LAUDABLE CUSTOMES OF LONDON Namely of that one whereby a reasonable partition of the goods of husbands among their Wives and Children is provided With an answer to such objections and pretenced reasons as are by persons unadvised or evill perswaded used against the same LONDON Printed by JAMES FLESHER Printer to that Honourable City 1652. Juris civilis de consuetudine Axiomata sive Maximae Consuetudo vim habet rei Judicatae Consuetudo est optima legum interpres Conventio consuetudo vincunt legem Consuetudo firmata est ubi simili aliquando contradicto Iudicio quid est obtentum seu Iudicatum Coepta usucapio vel praescriptio per defunctum continuatur per haeredem cum in omne jus defuncti succedat haeres Profunda requie humano generi prospexit usucapio Barto Usucapio est quies periculi solicitudinisque litium Cicero A Briefe Discourse declaring and approving the necessary and inviolable maintenance of the laudable Customes of London WE finde it necessary in all common-wealths for subjects to live under the direction of Lawes constitutions or customes publickly known and received and not to depend onely upon the commandement and pleasure of the governour bee the same never so just or sincere in life and conversation For that the Law once enacted and established extendeth his execution towards all men alike without favour or affection whereas if the word of a Prince were a Law the same being a mortall man must needs be possessed with those passions and inclinations of favour or disfavour that other men be and sometimes decline from the constant and unremoveable levell of indifferency to respect the man besides the matter if not to regard the person more then the cause Wherefore it was well agreed by the wisest Philosophers and greatest Politicks that a dumb Lawes direction is to be preferred before the sole disposition of any living Prince both for the cause afore touched and for other reasons which I will here omit But to descend to the particularities of my intention and to treat of the validitie and inviolable observation of some laudable I might term them sacred customes being the principall joynts and very sinews of all good Corporations and Fellowships and being also the maintainers of a sacred unity and naturall amity between the husband and his wife the parents and their children which as Aristotle the wise Philosopher termeth it is the beginning of a City For what is a City but a manifold and joynt society consisting of many housholds and living under the same Lawes Freedomes and Franchises so I must needs confess them to be the procurers and causes of sundry good effects to the generall estate of the City wherein they be observed as of the other side they may breed sundry inconveniences in such a City where the same are violated and broken with allowance and impunity I will therefore shortly shew the nature of a custome and the difference which it holdeth from a publick Law And next I will declare how necessary the same are to manage the government and to entertain the prosperity and traffique of this City and namely that one good custome which I intend to speak of Lastly I will endevour to answer those pretensed reasons and colourable objections made against the precise maintenance and defence thereof First then I suppose that a custome which justly deserveth that name is of no less reverent regard and authority then a written Law passed and allowed in Parliament which notwithstanding I do grant that there are certain differences between a Law and a custome for the custome taketh his force by degrees of time and consent of a certain people or the better part thereof but a Law springeth up in an instant and receiveth life from him that is of soveraign authority to command A custome enlargeth it selfe by plausible entertainment and acceptable circumstances of time and occasion with generall liking and allowance whereas a Law is commanded and published by power and received by dutifull constraint and that often against the good will of them that are bound by it for which cause Chrysostome not improperly compared the Custome to a King and the Law to a Tyrant Moreover the custome doth neither promise a reward for observation nor inflict a punishment for violation thereof whereas the Law alwayes importeth either a consideration of gain or a terrour of punishment or damage if the same be not a Law of enlargement or permission that disanulleth the prohibitions of a former Law Finally a custome is applyed to the commodity of some one province circuit or City and grounded upon a speciall reason of conveniencie or commodity See 34 H. 8. B. custome 59. A man may not prescribe or plead a custome per totam Angliam for that is common Law and no custom otherwise if the custome had been pleaded to be in such a City or County as Gavelkind Glâ—t Fee and such like Borough-english for those persons or place where it is observed whereas the Law hath a generall reason extended to the whole Nation bound by the same without private consideration of the due importances of any peculiar place or people Therefore it is well said and put in ure by the common Lawyer Quod consuetudo ex rationabili causa profecta privat communem legem That a custome grounded upon reasonable and honest consideration abridgeth or altereth the judgement of the common Law So that in customes the estate or condition of the people are to be respected and such customes as are consonant to reason and most appliable to the estate and quality of such people are to be allowed For example the custome of Boroughenglish yet in force in sundry places of England whereby the younger sonne is to inherite his fathers land hath taken strength by this reason that the father may if he be not careless and secure to do his children good train up his elder Sons in some good Trade or Occupation by which they may be able to get their own living whereas the youngest by the impotency and tenderness of his yeers may be perchance unapt and unable for such instruction And so the Custome commendable that provideth for the reliefe of the young and impotent Also by an old custome of this Land in sundry Boroughs and Towns Lands were devisable by Will though the Lawes of England pronounced such devises to be void But see now the Stature of 32 H. 8. c. 2. and 34. H. 8. c. 5. of Explanation and the reason was for that inhabitants of Boroughs or Cities whose traffique and Trade resteth much upon mutuall trust and credite are oftentimes indebted at the time of their death Wherefore it was thought meet that they might devise their land for the due satisfaction of their creditours which to do they were enabled by the custome In Kent and other places of this land the custome of Gavelkinde is
maintained which importeth an equall division of the inheritance to be made among all the brethren a custome partly grounded upon a naturall consideration for that all the Sonnes hold the like obligation of nature and desert with their Parents in the which they have an equall interest and also suffered to take place in Kent and other places of this Land in those dayes most inclinable to rebellion to the intent to enfeeble their forces and to bring their great houses and families to impuissance and decay thereby to disable and discourage them from such unlawfull and violent attempts And to come neerer to the matter this famous and renowned City of London hath many laudable and ancient customes which though they derogate and differ much from the rules of the common Law yet have they been not onely approved by inviolate experience of sundry ages but also have been of old ratified and confirmed by sundry Acts of Parliament Charters of Princes and namely by the Statute of Magna Charta Magna Charte ca. 9. by these words following Quod civitas London habeat omnes libertates suas antiquas consuetudines quas habere consuevit which is That the City of London have all their ancient liberties and customes which they have used to have The words following for other Cities c. be Quod habeant omnes libertates liberas consuetudines suas which signifieth that they shall still retaine their liberties and free customes that is to say their freedomes and immunities as to bee discharged of toll pontage and such like Whereas the City of London hath provision made by that estatute for all usages and customes whatsoever Verily as the City of London beareth oddes and prerogative over other Cities in Engl. being the Metropolis or mother City thereof so are the inhabitants of it no less necessary then profitable members of the Commonwealth in transporting our commodities into other lands and enriching us with the benefits and fruits of other countries The City of Rome and Citizens of the same had that prerogative as in other things so also in their executions for causes capitall that they should not be crucified being a death of great torment and infamy but onely beheaded The benefit of which custome Saint Paul claimed and obtained in the time of Nero pretending that hee was a Citizen of Rome The said Citizens also by the dignity and reputation of their City were not for any transgression or offence to be fettered whipped or scourged which priviledge likewise the said Saint Paul took hold of who being oppressed by the calumnious accusations and outcries of the Jewes was by commandement of Claudius Lysias the Captain to be examined by torture of whips Acts. 22. what was the cause of that generall murmure and exclamation of the people against him yet Saint Paul by alleaging that hee was a free man of Rome not onely delivered himselfe from the injury and rage of the people but also made the Captain much afraid of question or punishment for the indignity offered unto him so great was the Majesty of that City and so reverent the reputation of all such as were accounted members thereof Athenaeus termed Rome in those dayes very fitly Epitome totius orbis an abridgement of the whole world for the continuall concourse and resort of all Nations thither We may derive thence an argument for our purpose that London being worthy that title Epitome totius Angliae in respect of the necessary repair and frequent assembly of all estates therein whether it be for Justice by the Lawes of this Land which are here administred or by trade of marchandise which is here so great that it may bee termed totius occidentis emporium and chiefly because of the favourable and often sojorn of our most royall and gracious Soveraign whose Majesties chamber this is as it alwayes hath been of her most noble progenitors the same is no less worthy of sundry preheminences which by Custome and Charter it enjoyeth above other Cities of this Land We finde in our Law Books that the Scholers of Oxford claimed a priviledge by custome 43 E. 3. fo 17. Vide Brook Preser 8. to have preferment of any house or lodging that was to be let in the City of Oxford and the same was allowed in the Common place in Westminster where Justice Finchden a man of great reckoning at that time said that it is reason that they which are principall Instruments of great good in the Commonwealth should have beneficiall customes for the maintenance of their societies the like reason saith he serveth for the Merchants of the staple in Westminster and also for the Justices of Assises or Justices in Eyre to have the like prerogative Also it is not unfit to remember that the Barons of the Land have divers prerogatives above other subjects that is they shall not be sworn when they pass upon their Peers and if they bring an appeal the defendant shall not wage battaile against them and they are exempted out of all returnes in Juries and shall not be sworn in Leets and all in respect of their dignity and for the necessary use of them in government of the Commonwealth So that persons of needfull employment in the estate have alwayes been favoured in all their honest customes or prescriptions and especially the Citizens of London and the rather for the great presumption and opinion conceived of their experience who being trained by hard education in great use of service and affairs and also by their travaile and traffique beyond the Seas by continuall negotiation with other Nations must needs by all reasonable likelihood procure unto themselves great judgement and sufficiency to manage a politick Regiment in their City according unto that verse of the Poet Homer in the beginning of his Treatise of wise Ulysses his adventures remembring his travaile into sundry Nations and Cities Dic mihi Musa virum captae post temporae Troiae Qui mores hominum multorum vidit urbes The sense whereof may be well expressed in English verse without rime thus All travailers do gladly report great praise of Ulysses For that he knew many mens manners and saw many Cities Which opinion of their policy and experience conceived and approved by the noble Princes of this Land in all ages doth evidently appear by the manner of their government whereat strangers do no less envy then admire seeing so populous a City containing by true estimation more then 500 thousands of all sorts of Inhabitants managed not by cruell Viceroyes as is Naples or Millain neither by proud Podestà as be most Cities in Italy or insolent Lieutenants or Presidents as are sundry Cities in France whose Presidents are noble men or Captaines having their persons environed with a guard of Souldiers and holding their Cities possessed with a Garrison as well in the quietest calm of peace as in the hottest combustion of war but by a man of Trade or a meer
to alleage that she is a fool no more is the imputation of such simplicity honest and sufficient to exclude her from her Portion No it is well said and maintained for a Maxime in the Common Law Better it is to suffer a mischiefe then an inconvenience Lesse harmfull and hatefull it is for a man to swallow twenty of these light offences and to digest sundry of these pretensed scruples then by violating of a custome no lesse common then commendable to leave to posterity an odious memory and obloquie of his name The last objection against wives is no lesse ridiculous then Tyrannicall grounded upon an unjust desire to restrain them from mariage Mariage is an honourable Ordinance of God fit and necessary for all persons disposed thereunto to the avoiding of sinne and maintenance of a comfortable and sociable Christian life To restrain or prohibit the same either in maides or widows as Saint Paul saith is the doctrine of divells Tim. ep 1. ca. 4. 43 E. 3.6 And to indent or condition with any that he or she shall not mary is a condition limited against Law and by the same pronounced unlawfull and unreasonable Make it thine own case admit thou didest match with a wealthy wife whose furniture and riches hath increased thy Estate if God should call for her wouldest thou in a kinde memoriall of the benefits attained by her meanes make thy selfe a votary to live unmaried Do those which mary great Heires being women and after their wives deaths enjoy their whole inheritance by the curtesie of England making their wives heires to expect during their lives take it for any matter of conscience or scruple to mary again Unlesse it be in some place where the force of the custome and the benefit of the living joyned together work a contrary resolution in some husbands which custome annexed to Gavelkinde Lands in Kent and other places is of this quality 16 E. 3. aid 129. 19 E. 3. aid 144. that the husband shall after the decease of his wife be Tenant by the curtesie of her land as long as he remaineth unmaried whether he have issue by her or not but upon his next mariage shall utterly forgo all his interest therein A custome therefore the lesse unreasonable because the restraint of mariage of the one side is countervailed by the beneficiall favour of the other side to have the land by the curtesie without issue and also for that hee is to deprive the next Heire of his wife who perchance hath been maried with him but few moneths or dayes of the profit and commodity of the whole Land during his life But chiefely because it is a custom grounded and grown in continuance to such religious observation and regard that it seemeth an offence of conscience to infringe it But in our case sithence there is neither custome nor conscience to warrant thy will why shouldest thou then seem to quarrell with the lawfull liberty of thy wife if she survive thee she being weak by kinde and education and thereby lesse able to direct her occasions and govern her estate without a companion and coadjutor no on Gods name referre her to her own choice and conscience therein and make it no pretense and colour to abridge her of her right because shee seemeth inclinable unto that which God hath ordained and all men and women do embrace As to the fear and suspicion pretended that another in matching with thy wife should be enriched by thy travaile what should move thee to make that superstitious account of thy goods when thou art gone Were they any longer thine then while thou hadst life and licence to employ them Thou must needs know and acknowledge besides thy daily experience by the very Etymologie and signification of the word the true nature and quality of the thing These worldly goods are called temporall because they serve one but for a time they are termed transitory for that their property is fleeting from one owner unto an other they are named moveable or current because all their grace and credite is in running and removing into divers hands according to that rude and old but yet true Latine rime Omnia mundana per vices sunt aliena Nunc mea nunc hujus post mortem sunt alterius This worldly wealth each day doth change Their owners as we see Now mine now his and after death An others goods they be Then sithence thy wealth hath waited upon thee all thy life long wouldest thou require the same to rest at thy devotion after thy death If that seem impertinent and unprofitable unto thee then relinquish this care and suffer the goods of this world to have their naturall course and condition which is to be still in exchange passage and posting from hand to hand serving all men ut peregrinationis viaticum Hieronymus in Epist That is A Pilgrims charge or defrayment in his journey as Saint Hicrome termeth it And address thy minde to the desire of such goods as are neitheir temporal transitory current nor moveable but perpetuall permanent constant and not onely immutable but inestimable But finally to satisfie the last objection against thy children I wish thee to look back unto that I have said that thou mayest not for a private injury or displeasure seem as much as lyeth in thee to supplant and abrogate a publick custome to the no lesse prejudice then offence of a great number that have interest therein In enriching thy Son thou dost discharge the duty of a naturall father towards him which if hee prodigally or wickedly mispend or abuse he carryeth his own condemnation and proveth a wilfull enemy to himselfe Luke 2.25 The good father mentioned in the Gospell who at the suite of his undutifull and disobedient Son that would needs abandon the service and attendance on his father to run the course of an extravagant Libertine with lewd company gave him a great portion of his wealth is not any way blamed by our Saviour for that indulgence but rather recommended to all posterity as a true Pattern of a kind father Saint Paul commandeth the father to be well affected to his children and no way to discourage them Col. c. 3. What may breed greater discouragement or discontentment in any childe then to see himselfe by the place of his birth and the good fortune of the City intitled to the commodity of a good custome and yet injuriously by his own father whose affection should be alwayes occupied and earnest in procuring the good of his children disappointed of his hope defrauded of his right And as well as some having just cause of displeasure against their Sonne and childe may in this unlawfull and disorderly sort practise their revenge so may some other inconsiderate and wilfull father upon a conceipt taken against a good Sonne and of singular desert for that he concurreth not with him in some humour or disposition most wrongfully distresse and undo him by such
a president Thus the mischiefes objected on the one side are light and of small moment whereas the inconveniences apparent on the other side be manifold and of dangerous consequence I will not vouchsafe to answer that undiscreet Sarcasmus or bitter scoffe that some use We may play our wealth at dice without offence to the custome wherefore should wee not then dispose the same from our wife and children by our deeds of gift This amounteth to as much as if a maried man would say I may commit felony or treason and be attainted and hanged therefore and then the Law giveth my wife no dower nor my heire no patrimony then why should I not in reason use my discretion with the Land without incumbrance by the one or injury to the other Match these two cases together with judgement and thou shalt perceive they have a sensible concurrency in their address and application to this purpose It is well said by the Poet. il juvat exemplum quod litem lite resolvit The example of one wilfull or wicked act giveth no just countenance or allowance to another Let so much said to thy objections take some place to alter thine humour or at least be a preparative for thine own reason in the fear of God to purge thee of the same But to conclude this short discourse with one consideration of great importance I wish thee to consider that this City of London is and hath been happily preserved in this flourishing prosperity by the wise and politick consent that all and alwayes the particulars have had to increase the generall good estate thereof thinking it their duty as they got and acquired their substance in this City so also to spend and defray it in the same insomuch that whatsoever falleth from the one commeth and groweth unto another and by alteration of private fortunes as chances and changes of times doe require from one Citizen to another the generall estate hath flourished and never wanted particular men of wealth and ability to sustain the offices and functions of the City Upon which consideration by most laudable and antient Custome the Lord Maior and Senate of London have been and are intitled to the tuition and custody of young Orphans and their goods and likewise are made acquainted by ordinary good means of inventaries taken and produced what substance and wealth each man dyeth possessed of to the intent that although that man which by his good travaile and Trade hath grown to be rich among them be departed hence yet his goods may remain as among his wife and children in use and property so to the generall strength of this City in account and reckoning For wee often see that one rich mans wealth passeth to the increase of the good estate of another Citizen either by mariage of the widow or of the Orphan so that the City though deprived of a member or inhabitant yet is not destitute of such as may discharge his employment and place Whereas if this pernicious practise and uncharitable liberty might take root by deeds of gifts and cautelous conveyance to strangers not onely the wife and children may be distressed but also the state of the City much weakened and in danger of a great disreputation and decay from that that it hath bin and yet is For if it be adjudged lawfull in one of what degree soever he be it is neither impossible nor unlikely that the same will be used by many and consequently may be practised by all which if it befall what will become of the happy condition of this City it is not hard to conjecture I mean not to extend my speech to the prejudice of any true debts that a man oweth without fraud or collusion seeing the custome very providently careth for the discharge thereof but my purpose is to disswade men from evill example from insolent violation of good customes and from odious and unseemly practises of deceit and evill meaning towards their wives and children Which perswasion I would wish all professors of the Law seriously and carefully to use and enforce to their clients being Citizens of London as in good conscience and discretion they ought to do Blame not my bold enterprise gentle Reader nor reprove my simple censure herein presented unto thee An Apostrophe to the Reader and the motive of this Treatise which might I know both for the matter manner of it have been by any other and perchance by my selfe more largely and effectually delivered if the opportunity of my leasure might have answered the quality of the argument which I had in hand But fearing lest I should with too long a discourse in so plain a proposition breed more lothsomness then liking I would not for want of leasure I might not and if I had had time at will I minded not seeing for any urgent occasion the error being yet fresh the practise rare and not grown to an enormity I needed not but in a word or two to make thee acquainted with the cause that moved me to addresse these few reasons to thy gentle view So it happened that I being in company and conference with some persons though otherwise wise wel-affected yet in this matter strangely conceited it chanced that the lawfulnesse and conveniency of this custome came in question and debate among us and was by some of them being men for sufficiency of great opinion and for countenance and credite of good apparance and regard in the City so pressed with objections that the most part of those which were present seemed to encline to that perswasion Wherefore lest the authority of the men might the sooner seduce the simple multitude unto their error and for that I thought it a charitable policy to prevent the perill in the prime before it grew to a festering sore or incurable evill according to the Poet Ovids advise Principiis obsta sero medicina paratur Cum mala per longas invaluere moras VVithstand at first the springing evill VVith medicines fit therefore Too late it is to take the cure Of old and festred sore I thought good to apply this simple Receipt of reason to the minds of all such as shall chance to be distempered be these disswasions hoping that they will yeeld me that friendly requitall of good construction which my offerred good will may seem to deserve and although I keep my selfe unnamed and unknown it may please them to have this opinion of me no more favourable then reasonable that he which is well devoted to the defence of good customes is rather to be justified in his good meaning then condemned or held suspected of any sinister conceipt The Table GOvernours Charge President Fol. 4 Treasurer ibid. Surveyors Fol. 6 Almoners Fol. 7 Scrutiners Fol. 9 Admonition to the Auditors Fol. 10 Orders for keeping the Evidences Fol. 11 The Renter Clerk and his Charge ib. The Hospitalers Office Fol. 17 The Stewards Office Fol. 19 The Matrons Office Fol. 20 The Sisters Office Fol. 22 The Chirurgians Fol. 23 The Porter Fol. 24 The Bedells Fol. 26 The Visitor of Newgate Fol. 27 FINIS