Boston Decr. 24, 1759 Sr.,

I was extremly surprized to hear that you1 entered a Complaint at Worcester Court on the Return I commenced Lilley et al. vs. Allen, you certainly must remember that I gave you the Writs & informed you of the Nature of the suit, that if I had succeded it would have been no detriment but really an advantage to Allen as it was only a Process on the absconding act2, but what surprizes me more is that you should persist in yr. complaint notwithstanding Mr. Willard3 offered to engage you that he would see the affair honorably safisfy'd, this secured yr. fees to you if you could break through the tyes of honble practice so much in such a Case as to take 'em; but you'll say that Allen insisted on it, if he did 4 it was very base for I wrote him by his Wife the nature of the suit and that it would not be entered wch. was sufficient to have recovered against me for deceit if I had enter'd it & I also told you it would not be entered, & you knowing the affair might & as an attorney ought to have pacify'd the importunity of yr. Client; tis what you would expect in the like Case, for as the Case was left to my sole diriction this affair hapning proves a damage to me. But Sr. as the matter now stands if you were obliged to enter the Complaint to satisfy yr. Client you surely are not obliged to insist on your fees to satisfy him, you dont give them to him

I would feign perswade myself in yr. favour to think that this notorious violation of honble practice was a mere inadvertency & what you value yr. Reputation too much to do if you had thought of Consider'd the Nature of it, therefore Sr. as some charge has unluckily arisen I propose to you to accept of that & release the rest, the Generosity of which as this thing is Scituated I believe am sure will be more satisfaction to you (if you value yr. self as a generous practiser of the Noble than by fees so basely gain'd by taking the advantage of the Confidence of a brother Practicer; but if you insist on having yr. Whole bill I ask this favour which I think you can't deny vizt the Execution may be brought to me & not to my Client (who is very wroth) and let the officers fees be saved & I'll see the money paid & as there will be great need of it shall wish you satisfaction in yr. gain. Yr. h. Sr.

RTP

LbC ; addressed: "To Capt. Ezra Taylor at Southboro."

1.

Ezra Taylor (ca. 1728—?) of Southborough practiced law in Worcester County from 1751 until the Revolution although he may not have been regularly admitted to the bar. He was made a justice of the peace in 1762 and in July of that year commissioned a colonel in the army. There is no record of actual service by him. During the war Taylor removed to Pownalborough, Maine, where he continued his practice (D. Hamilton Hurd, History of Worcester County, Massachusetts with Biographical Sketches of many of its Pioneers and Prominent Men, 2 vols. [Philadelphia, 1889], 1:xx; Whitmore, Mass. Civil List, 250).

2.

This act enabled creditors to recover their just debts from "the effects of their absent or absconding debtors" (Mass. Province Laws, 4:168–170).

3.

Abel Willard.

4.

Five illegible words cancelled.