he has made, by which I shall lay claim to the interest
of the mortgage money, and so waiting with much impatience and doubt the
issue of to-morrow's Court, I to bed, but hardly slept half an hour the
whole night, my mind did so run with fears of to-morrow.

14th. Up, and did digest into a method all I could say in our defence,
in case there should be occasion, for I hear he will have counsel to
plead for him in the Court, and so about nine o'clock to the court at
the Lordshipp where the jury was called; and there being vacancies, they
would have had my father, in respect to him, [to] have been one of
the Homage, but he thought fit to refuse it, he not knowing enough the
customs of the town. They being sworn and the charge given them, they
fell to our business, finding the heir-at-law to be my uncle Thomas; but
Sir Robert [Bernard] did tell them that he had seen how the estate was
devised to my father by my uncle's will, according to the custom of the
manour, which they would have denied, first, that it was not according
to the custom of the manour, proposing some difficulty about the
half-acre of land which is given the heir-at-law according to custom,
which did put me into great fear lest it might not be in my uncle's
possession at his death, but mortgaged with other to T. Trice (who was
there, and was with my good will admitted to Taylor's house mortgaged
to him if not being worth the money for which it was mortgaged, which
I perceive he now, although he lately bragged the contrary, yet is now
sensible of, and would have us to redeem it with money, and he would now
resurrender it to us rather than the heir-at-law) or else that it was
part of Goody Gorum's in which she has a life, and so might not be
capable of being according to the custom given to the heir-at-law, but
Will Stanks tells me we are sure enough against all that. Then they fell
to talk of Piggott's land mortgaged to my uncle, but he never admitted
to it, which they now as heir would have admitted to. But the steward,
as he promised me, did find pretensions very kindly and readily to put
off their admittance, by which I find they are much defeated, and if
ever, I hope, will now listen to a treaty and agreement with us, at our
meeting at London. So they took their leaves of the steward and Court,
and went away, and by and by, after other business many brought in,
they broke up to dinner. So my father and I home with great content to
dinner; my mind now as f