56 Court and Testamentary Business, 1649 5

         Liber A.  absence the said Mr Charles Brooke being nowe prsent The

              Court proceeded to the hearing of the Cause. And the Com-

              pltes suite being to bee releived for 1560 l of Tob: and Cask

              Damages for 13. weekes service for two men according to a

              Covenant or Agreemt of the 20th of August last witnessed by

              the Governor Wifim Stone Esqr and nowe read being as

              followeth viz. August 20. 1650. Memd the day and yeare

              aboue written agreed betweene Elwyn Bufkin Esqr of the one

              party and Robert Brooke of Maryland Esqr of the other party.

              That hee the said Elwyn Bufkin shall and doth hereby lett out

              vnto service two Menservants belonging to Mr Mitchell (one

              named Edward Philpott the other Vincent Atkinson) to the

              aforenamed Robert Brooke for 13 weekes next after and

              ensueing the date hereof. Hee the said Robert Brooke paying

              for every weekes service of these two men 120. weight of good

              merchantable Tobacco and Caske after the end of the said

              service. In witnes whereof the parties to these prsents inter-

              changeably haue sett theire hands

              Signed in the prsence of Willm Stone.   Robert Brooke

                To wch clayme of the pltes the defendt by his said Lre and

              Attorney answered that bee owed him nothing, ffor that the

              Specialtyes being pvsed the Court might bee pleased to

              observe that the deft hired the Men ioyntly for 13 weekes ser-

              vice and at the end of theire service was to pay soe much.

              And that till the pite could prove that 13 weekes service noe

              Court vnder heaven could enioyne the deft to give him one

              penny without the height of Iniustice & oppression. And that

              bee was sure the pfte could never prove. ffor Vincent one of

              the two men was absent floe lesse then full five weekes of the

              prtended thirteene, and that the plte could not deny this and

              that if bee should hee the deft had aboue 40 witnesses to

              depose against him. And that bee had vnder the pltes owne

              hand and seale wherein hee acknowledged that one of the

              men had not served out his time, and that therefore bee wrote

              to Mr Henshawe to lett both the men worke some considerable

              tyme to make vpp that one mans absence, but this was not

              embraced by Capt Mitchell who by his menaceing Lre bearing

              date November 25. pemptorily commands them away vppon

              sight of it And though it was August the 20th that theire

              Specialties beare date, yet was it August the 23th before Phil-

              pott was was delivered him, the Governor then having occasion

              for the men to finish some worke and the plte granting that

              bee should And after the 20th of November neither of them

              wrought a day, onely they stayed some dayes for theire owne

              pleasure and that was all, And therefore the Case being soe

              cleere the deft doubted not but the Court in all Justice would