d think proper to pay the
soundrel,--but this morning, just as I was stepping into my chaise, my
servants all about me, a fellow, called a tipstaff, slept up and begged
the favour of my footman, who threshed the upholsterer, and of the two
that held him, to go along with him upon a little business to my Lord
Chief Justice.

_Sir Per_. The devil!

_Lord Lum_. And at the same instant, I, in my turn, was accosted by two
other very civil scoundrels, who, with a most insolent politeness, begged
my pardon, and informed me that I must not go into my own chaise.

_Sir Per_. How, my lord?--not into your ain carriage?

_Lord Lum_. No, sir: for that they, by order of the sheriff, must seize
it, at the suit of a gentleman--one Mr. Mahogany, an upholsterer.

_Sir Per_. An impudent villain!

_Lord Lum_. It is all true, I assure you; so you see, my dear Mac, what a
damned country this is to live in, where noblemen are obliged to pay their
debts, just like merchants, coblers, peasants, or mechanics--is not that a
scandal, dear Mac. to the nation?

_Sir Per_. My lord, it is not only a scandal, but a national grievance.

_Lord Lum_. Sir, there is not another nation in the world has such a
grievance to complain of. Now in other countries were a mechanic to dun,
and tease, and behave as this Mahogany has done,--a nobleman might
extinguish the reptile in an instant; and that only at the expence of a
few sequins, florins, or louis d'ors, according to the country where the
affair happened.

_Sir Per_. Vary true, my lord, vary true--and it is monstrous that a mon
of your lordship's condition is not entitled to run one of these mechanics
through the body, when he is impertinent about his money; but our laws
shamefully, on these occasions, make no distinction of persons amongst us.

_Lord Lum_. A vile policy indeed, Sir Pertinax.--But, sir, the scoundrel
has seized upon the house too, that I furnished for the girl I took from
the opera.

_Sir Per_. I never heard of sic an a scoundrel.

_Lord Lum_. Ay, but what concerns me most,--I am afraid, my dear Mac, that
the villain will send down to Newmarket, and seize my string of horses.

_Sir Per_. Your string of horses? zounds! we must prevent that at all
events:--that would be sic an a disgrace. I will dispatch an express to
town directly to put a stop till the rascal's proceedings.

_LordLum._ Pr'ythee do, my dear Sir Pertinax.

_Sir Per._ O! it shall be done, my lord.

_Lord Lum.