offended with such an application, and to
meet it with superciliousness and insolence, is injustice carried to its
height.

The manner in which some men, who would be ready to shoot any one who
disputed their claims to be considered as gentlemen, treat their
creditors, whom they choose to call _duns_, would, from its contrariety
to any thing like reason, be almost ludicrous, if it were not so
culpable, so cruel, and so dishonest.

A tradesman, from not being able to recover the money owed to him, sees
himself in danger of losing his credit, and, together with his credit,
the means of getting a maintenance; he sees his wife and children
perhaps upon the very verge of misery, and yet, if he civilly asks for
what is his due, he is considered as troublesome and impertinent,
perhaps reproached and insulted!

Upon this subject I shall allow myself to quote the words of Delany, the
friend of Dean Swift, one of the most animated and sensible of our
sermon writers.

"Running in debt with tradesmen, and neglecting to pay them in due time,
is utterly ruinous to the whole business of trade and commerce, and
absolutely destructive of the very principles upon which it is built,
and by which it subsists; and yet this is a crime every day committed by
men of fortune and quality, with as little remorse as they eat and
drink; and if the tradesman demands his money, it is odds but he is
either threatened or turned into a jest. The son of Sirach's wise
observation is here every day verified, merely substituting the words
_rich_ and _poor_, for the words _debtor_ and _creditor_. _The debtor
hath done wrong, and yet he threateneth; the creditor is wronged, and
yet he must entreat also._ If threats will not rid these men of their
importunate creditors, then are they to be deluded with fair words and
plausible excuses, to pay attendance from day to day, to the loss of
more time, and neglect of more business, than perhaps the debt is worth;
and so the first injury, instead of being repaired is doubled. And yet
the _gentleman_ debtor, the author of this evil, is so far from
repenting of it, that it is odds but he vaunts his wit and dexterity in
doing it. _As a mad man_ (saith Solomon) _who casteth firebrands,
arrows, and death: so is the man that deceiveth his neighbour, and
saith, Am I not in jest?_ And, indeed, it is scarce to be conceived how
any man can deal more destruction and ruin around him, than by deceiving
and breaking faith wit