the bottom of the sea:
That it was but reasonable I should strain myself as far as I was able,
to reimburse him some of his charges: That from henceforward he expected
his word should be a law to me in all things: That I must maintain a
parish-watch against thieves and robbers, and give salaries to an
overseer, a constable, and others, all of his own choosing, whom he
would send from time to time to be spies upon me: That to enable me the
better in supporting these expenses, my tenants shall be obliged to
carry all their goods cross the river to his town-market, and pay toll
on both sides, and then sell them at half value.[68] But because we were
a nasty sort of people, and that he could not endure to touch anything
we had a hand in, and likewise, because he wanted work to employ his own
folks, therefore we must send all our goods to his market just in their
naturals;[69] the milk immediately from the cow without making it into
cheese or butter; the corn in the ear, the grass as it is mowed; the
wool as it cometh from the sheep's back, and bring the fruit upon the
branch, that he might not be obliged to eat it after our filthy hands:
That if a tenant carried but a piece of bread and cheese to eat by the
way, or an inch of worsted to mend his stockings, he should forfeit his
whole parcel: And because a company of rogues usually plied on the river
between us, who often robbed my tenants of their goods and boats, he
ordered a waterman of his to guard them, whose manner was to be out of
the way until the poor wretches were plundered; then to overtake the
thieves, and seize all as lawful prize to his master and himself. It
would be endless to repeat a hundred other hardships he hath put upon
me; but it is a general rule, that whenever he imagines the smallest
advantage will redound to one of his footboys by any new oppression of
me and my whole family and estate, he never disputeth it a moment. All
this hath rendered me so very insignificant and contemptible at home,
that some servants to whom I pay the greatest wages, and many tenants
who have the most beneficial leases, are gone over to live with him; yet
I am bound to continue their wages, and pay their rents;[70] by which
means one third part of my whole income is spent on his estate, and
above another third by his tolls and markets; and my poor tenants are so
sunk and impoverished, that, instead of maintaining me suitably to my
quality, they can hardly find me clothes to