Introduction.           xxxi

        arts had made profession in this province and constantly used practiced & exer
        cised the same or the cureing divers deseases Sore paynes, aches &c in & upon
        severall the good people of this Province with goode Successe” (Archives
        LXVI, p. 442). At that earlier day, a sick person who wanted Harper's care,
        applied to his master, and Van Sweringen sent him with his medicines and his
        remedies, and was paid. Sometimes he was not paid, and a suit followed.
        Then, in the course of time, Harper became free, and when he continued his
        profession, it was in his own interest. In 1675, Morgan Jones agreed with
        Harper, then still a servant, that Harper should cure Mrs. Jones, “then lan
        guishing of a certain distemper of body”, and that he and not his master should
        receive therefor 1600 pounds of tobacco. Later, Van Sweringen, in need of
        tobacco, made a bargain with Jones, by which Jones paid him 8oo pounds of
        tobacco, upon Van Sweringen's faithful promise to pay the 1600 pounds when
        it should fall due. The master did not discharge Jones from the debt, and Har
        per, by now free from his servitude and able to sue in his own name, recovered
        the debt from Jones. Jones then sued Van Sweringen for not keeping his
        promise. The case came to trial on February 22, 1677/8, and Van Sweringen
        pleaded non assumpsit, said that he had not promised Jones what Jones claimed
        he had. Both men put themselves up on the country, and the jury was sum
        moned. The jury, “being elected tryed & sworne upon their Oaths do say wee
        finde for the Defendt”, and the Court granted defendant Van Sweringen 1065
        pounds of tobacco for his costs and charges. Plaintiff Jones was in mercy for
        his false claim (post, pp. 180-181).

                        SHIPS AND MARINERS

          Not an admiralty case was heard this year; indeed, the word admiralty does
        not occur even once in these pages. There was little concern with ships and
        shipping and with mariners. The difficulties between Richard Royston of Ox
        ford, Talbot County, and Captain William Nichols hung on for more than
        ten years. On September 1, 1667, Royston contracted with Richard Pope, part
        owners of the ship Richard and James, of Bristol, England, to take twenty-five
        tons of the space on the ship at £11 per ton, and to pay for it even if he did
        not use it. Once in the Province, Royston could not get together the hundred
        hogsheads to put into the twenty-five tons. To lessen his debt, he let the five
        tons not filled, to Nichols, captain of the Richard and James, at £6 per ton.
        Nichols gave Royston his note for the £30, and when, in August 1668, the ship
        got back to Bristol, he paid the £30 and it was allowed on Royston's account
        with Pope. Royston knew this, yet he did not discharge Nichols from the debt
        or surrender the note, as he should have done. Instead, more than seven years
        later, on March 26, 1676, he had Nichols arrested and declared the note against
        him. When, on April 26, 1677, the case came to trial, the jury found for de
        fendant Nichols, and the Court gave him 1755 pounds of tobacco for his costs
        and charges. As costs went, this was a high allowance, a very high allowance.
        When the matter is referred to, later, the verdict is called a nonsuit, so that the
        Court must have felt that Royston did not make out even a prima facie case
        After this April 1677 trial, Captain Nichols brought action against Royston on