The Tithe - Teacher Plaintiff & the Poor Man Defendant

A poor man that for Conscience sake can’t pay
Tithes to the Priest, whom he has not hired, and of whom
he never had no work done, is sum[m]oned by a Writ
of sub poena out of the Exchequer or Chancerie to
appear in his own person¹ such a day on pain of a
hundred Pound, may be two hundred miles from his home
for a matter of a Groat or twelve Pence, &c.
And when the poor man comes honestly to the Court, there stands
men, called Tip-staves, with great staves in their hands,
keeps him out, & bids him go get an Attorney to
appear for him. Then the poor man waits till the
Judges rise, & when they come forth of the Court, tells
them that he is come to appear in his own person
as the Writ commands him, the Judges bids him go
to the Office & get an Attorney:² the poor man
replies, This Writ of mine commands me, all Excuses
set apart, to appear in my own person, and here
I am, is not this appearance? No. Then the
poor man goes to the Office, and tells an Attorney
that he has appeared, and desires him to record it
for which Recording he will give him four pence, (:which is his due.) You must first give me ten
groats to appear for you, says the Attorney, and then I will record
it for four pence. The poor man replies, I have
appeared myself in my own person, & therefore it is
a very unreasonable thing to ask me ten groats
for work that I have done myself. That is no
Appearance, says the Attorney, you must fee
an Attorney, for you can’t appear yourself.
Then says the poor man, this is a false Writ,
take it again, & make it right the next time,
& com[m]and an Attorney to appear & discharge me.
No, no says the Att: the Writ is true, and it is
yours, but you must get an Attorney, to appear for you.
My Writ does not say so, says the poor man, but
it com[m]ands me expressly to appear in my own person.
Well, well, says the Att: give me ten groats,
& I will appear for you, & then I am your person.
That can’t be, says the poor man, ten groats
can never change my person, & therefore I desire
thee. Record my own appearance which I have made
& that will be Truth without any Lying or dis:
sembling, and I will pay thee for thy pains.
But if I should record your appearance in your
own person, says the Att: what will become
of me and all other Attornies hereafter? Says
an other Att: If such as you came, you may go
hang our tools on the hedge; I have nothing
to do with what you do with your tools says the poor man, If
you had not sent this Writ for me, I could have
been very willing to stay at home & follow my
work; but seeing I am not beyond Sea, nor Sick
nor lame, nor impotent, (:In which Cases the
law allows of Attornies,:) I thought it my duty
to appear in my own person, as the Write com[m]ands.
Thou art an impudent fellow, says an Att: to come
to take away our Trade; If you will have none
of us to appear for you, says an other Att: we
will send an attachment for you, and com[m]it you
to prison for a Contempt. Then if the poor
man for fear of the pretended Contempt.

Then if the poor
man for fear of the pretended Contempt do fee an
Att. then says the Att: you must answer the Bill or else you will be in Contempt. Give me the
Bill, says the poor man, and I’le answer it. But
says the Att: You must first give a Rule. a Rule
what’s that? says the poor man. Give me a Groat,
says the Att. and I will give a rule for you, for
you can’t do it yourself.

Then the poor man gives him
a groat, for which he writes or speaks a few words to the
Plaintiffs Att. to bring in the Bill. Now says the Att.
you must answer this Bill, or else you will be in Contempt.
Give it me, says the poor man, & I’le answer to it. No, no,
says the Att. I must take a copy of it for you, & you must
give me eight Pence a sheet; That’s very dear, says the
poor man, and I work very hard a great while for a little money,
& shall not part so lightly with it, but if thou wilt
write me a Copy for so much money as I should get buying
work while thou art writing it, I shall pay thee, for I am
very willing to do as I would be done by. But I’le not
do so, says the Att. for I must have 8 pence a sheet for it.
Then says the poor man, If thou wilt not write it for a
reasonable Price, let me see it, & I can do it myself
or get my Friend to write it for me. No, no, says [the] Att.
We will not let you have the Record to write a Copy of
it your self, nor your Friend neither, you must ap:
point an Att. to do it for you. Well then says the poor
man, It seems I have power to appoint an Att. and with:
out me he dare not meddle; therefore Either write it
for me at my Price, or else let me write it myself.
What a strange man are you! says the Att. do you
think that we must work at the same rate as you
work at? Why should you not? says the poor man, for
the Scripture says, Whatsoever you would that men should
do unto you, do ye so unto them. Well, well, says the Att.
But my fees are due unto me by the Law of the Land.
It’s true indeed, says the poor man, there was a Statute made
in the 7th year of king Richard the 2nd which says, that Att.
in the absence of their Masters may answer for them; And
therefore of being Master am willing to give thee as much
as I can get myself, and me thinks thou shouldst be Content
with it, for I’m glad to work for two pence half penny
an hour, that is half a Crown a day, and I think that is
good honest wages, & if thou wilt not work as cheap as I do,
I being thy Master, let me do my work my self.

But says the Att. my Parents bred me up to this, & it cost
them a great deal of money, & me a great deal of time,
before I got anything for myself, then how do you
think my labour should be as cheap as yours? Well,
says the poor man; My Parents also bred me up, & gave
money to bind me. Apprentice, and so I serv’d Seven years
before I got for myself, then reckon my money be my time
as well as thy money by thy time, & now why should not my
labour be as good as thine? And further I ask thee, by
what law thou demandest eight pence a sheet? It’s the
Rules of the Court, says the Att. & also an ancient
Custom. I have heard some say, says the poor Man,
that it is a Maxime in Law, that an evil Custom is to
be abolished, & truly I think it a very bad Custom
that would compel me to pay an Att. 8 pence a sheet³
& have so few words there in, that a Lawyer or his
boy can write nine sheets of it in an hour, how canst
thou in Conscience ask me five or six shillings for
every hours writing? And when thou hast done, I
could write as much my self in one Sheet as thou
doest write in twenty. Besides when thou hirest
an other man to write the same for thee, thou givest
him but a Penny a Sheet, and wouldn’t thou have 8 pence
of me this is Contrary to Equity & good Conscience,
Moreover Magna Charta says, We will sell no
man Justice nor Right; and therefore I am very
hardly used, if I can have neither, except I buy it
at such a dear rate. Well, well, says the Att. If
you will not take a Copy of the Bill, and put in
an Answer; it will be a Contempt.

Then if the
Poor Man take a Copy of the Bill at this unrea:
sonable rate for fear of a Contempt, and having per:
us’d it, he tells the Lawyer, there is many things in
this Bill that is not true⁴ & asks why they put such
things in? This is our Formality, says the Att.
Then your Formality lyes, says the poor man, &c.
Whereupon he writes a plain answer, & brings it
to the lawyer, and says, here I have brought my
Answer to the Bill. This is no Answer, says the
Att. You must go to a Counsellor & get him to write
an answer for you. Why should I do so? says the poor
man, must I answer the Bill or the Counsellor? No, says
the Att. you must answer the Bill, but you must get a Coun:
cellor to write it according to Law, & put his hand to it.
I can answer myself, says the poor man, & put mine own
hand to it; And why should not that be taken, Seeing I am
the man that is com[m]anded by the Law to answer?
If you do not get your answer with the Counsellor’s hand
to it, says the Att. it will be a Contempt.

Then if the
poor man for fear of a Contempt do go to a Counsellor, he
must first give him his fee,⁵ if an Ordinary Counsellor, may
be ten Shillings will serve, but if he be a great one, which
is gotten to the degree of the Coife, or a Sergeant at Law,
it must be more, and so he writes an Answer, dressing it
finely with many Lawyers words, sch. the poor man
knows not what they mean, and thus the Answer gets
a new face & becomes such a one as pleaseth the Coun:
cellor, whether it pleaseth the poor mans own Con:
science or not, the Case is already taken. And if the poor
man be consciencious, & would plead honestly according to
the Scriptures & the righteous Laws of this Nation, then [the]
Councellor will not put his hand to it; So in very Truth
it is the Councellors Answer in in the poor mans name, and
if the poor man will not put in such an Answer, it
is called a Contempt.

When all this is done, the poor man
must bring this the Councellors Answer to his Attorney
to ingross it in Parchment, for which he must pay,
and then go before a Master, if it be in Chancerie
or before a Baron, if it be in the Exchequer; and be
Sworn to that Answer, giving him t. pence. But
if the poor man declares,⁶ that he will keep Christ’s
Commandment: Swear Not At All, then neither Master
nor Baron will take his Answer, but chide him,⁷ &
frown upon him, (and says one) if you will not Swear,
we swear, & if you will not swear, you shall go to Prison
for a Contempt. Shew me that Law, says the poor man,
commands me to swear to mine Answer. We know
a Law, says the Baron, though you do not. [ ] then,
says the poor man, when that Law was made [ ]?
By whom, that I may read it, for the Law of England
is to be read to the People four times a year [ ]
County, as appears by the 28. year of King Edward I.
Yes you gone Sirrah (saith Baron Nicholas:)
[ ], if you come before me again, I will lay
you by the heels.

Then if the poor man for
fear of a Contempt or Prison do Swear to his Answer,
his Att. tells him there will be Replication,
& I must take a Copy of it for you, & you must give
me 8 pence a Sheet. When the poor man reads it
he finds an ill favoured thing, & tells his Att. This
is not true. This is our Formality says the Att.
Then your Formalities are lies, says the poor man. Well,
well, says the Att. Now you must put in a [Re ]
to this Replicaon. What’s that! says the poor man,
Give me money, says the Att. & I’le put it in for you,
you can’t do it yourself. &c. And many such [vile]
dirty things as these he calls to the poor man for money for.

After all this the poor man is served with an other
Writ Com[m]anding him to appear in his own Person to hear
Judgment,⁸ and when his name is call’d, he answers,
Here I am, Where’s your Counsellor? says the Judges.
I am here myself, says the poor man; But you must
have a Counsellor, to plead for you, says the Judges.
Is this Cause mine, or is it a Councels? says the poor man.
No, it is your Cause, says the Judges and Lawyers. Well
then, says the poor man, If the Cause be mine, then
hear me; For the righteous Law of God, and the just
Law of England com[m]and the Judges to hear [the] poor
as well as the rich without [repent] of Persons, &c.
If you’le not have Counsel, says the Judge, your Cause
will suffer. I am sure says the poor man, a Counsellor
can’t plead my Cause, except he have Instruction from
me what to plead, and therefore if I am able to in:
struct a Counsellor what to plead, I’m able to plead my
Cause myself, For Greater is the Teacher, than he that
is taught, &c. But says the Judge, you may be ingo:
rant of the Law for all this & therefore you must
have Counsel. But says the poor man, If I know
my cause myself as the matter of fact, you the Judge,
are to inform me if I mistake, in matter of Law,
for that end are you set there Judges.

Nevertheless the poor man being Overruled & dri:
ven to put his cause into a Counsels hand, then be:
tween the Councel & the Judges they can make
the poor mans Cause look how they please, and the
poor man shall have no more Law, but just so much
as they’re pleased to measure him out; and if he
that pleads for him be but an Ordinary Counsellor, he
will have 20 shillings, if not 30. but if he be a
Serjeant at Law or Coife man, 40 shillings a fee.
Then if the poor mans cause be cast, if it be
matter of Imprisonment, the poor man must go
to prison, & neither Attorney nor Councel will
go for him thither, nor give him his money again.
In few words there’s the poor mans fate; the poor
man pays for all, and suffers for all, and the
Lawyers go away with all, and the poor man must
stand by, and see himself rob’d of his Birthright.

And now all sober People Consider, it [ ] be not
agt. Law & Reason to be Compelled to Come to a Court
& when one comes must not do his own work work himself
but must (whether he will or no) hire other men to
do it & pay them at a very high rate, giving them
more money for one days work than he himself
can get in ten: And if they spoil his work
yet they will not give him his money again.
Now is not this far worse than any manual Ocu:
pation? As for example, if a man go to a Joyners
Shop or the like, and bid the Master make him
a Bedstead, & give him his money before hand,
if the Joyners tools be naught, & he spoil it in
making, will not the man object, as very well he
may, that the Joyner shall make him a good bed
stead, fit for his use and stand to the boss of the
law: one himself or else return the man his money
and if no, why should not the Lawyers trie the poor
mans Cause again at their own Charge till the [ ]
it, [ ] or else return the man his money, & let him
either seek better workmen, or do his work him
self next time.
P.M.