[Footnote A:  A well-regulated widow kept herself at home for six weeks after the death of her husband, and denied herself the theatre and other public amusements for a twelvemonth.]

“TAT.  Oh, madam, you make my heart bound within me:  I’ll warrant you, madam, I’ll manage them all; and indeed, madam, the men are really very silly creatures, ’tis no such hard matter—­they rulers! they governors!  I warrant you indeed.

“WIDOW.  Ay, Tattleaid, they imagine themselves mighty things, but government founded on force only, is a brutal power—­we rule them by their affections, which blinds them into belief that they rule us, or at least are in the government with us.  But in this nation our power is absolute; thus, thus, we sway—­[playing her fan].  A fan is both the standard and the flag of England.  I laugh to see men go on our errands, strut in great offices, live in cares, hazards and scandals, to come home and be fools to us in brags of their dispatches, negotiations, and their wisdoms—­as my good dear deceas’d use to entertain me; which I, to relieve myself from, would lisp some silly request, pat him on the face.  He shakes his head at my pretty folly, calls me simpleton; gives me a jewel, then goes to bed so wise, so satisfied, and so deceived.”

* * * * *

This pleasant conversation Lord Brumpton overhears, as he does also the inmost secrets of his lawyer, Puzzle.  The latter gentleman, who has studied hard to cheat his good-natured employer, and succeeded, is a daringly drawn satire on the pettifogging attorney of the period.[A] Note the following words of wisdom, apropos to the drawing of wills, which Mr. Puzzle addresses to his nephew.

[Footnote A:  Of the attorney of Queen Anne’s day Ward wrote:  “He’s an Amphibious Monster, that partakes of two Natures, and those contrary; He’s a great Lover both of Peace and Enmity; and has no sooner set People together by the Ears, but is Soliciting the Law to make an end of the Difference.  His Learning is commonly as little as his Honesty; and his Conscience much larger than his Green Bag.  Catch him in what Company soever, you will always hear him stating of Cases, or telling what notice my Lord Chancellor took of him, when he beg’d leave to supply the deficiency of his Counsel.  He always talks with as great assurance as if he understood what he only pretends to know:  And always wears a Band, and in that lies his Gravity and Wisdom.  He concerns himself with no Justice but the Justice of a Cause:  and for making an unconscionable Bill he outdoes a Taylor.”]

“PUZZLE.  As for legacies, they are good or not, as I please; for let me tell you, a man must take pen, ink and paper, sit down by an old fellow, and pretend to take directions, but a true lawyer never makes any man’s will but his own; and as the priest of old among us got near the dying man, and gave all to the Church, so now the lawyer gives all to the law.