xxii                Introduction.

          Oistin, and this he did. But he failed to give any account of the proceeds, and
          William Digges, the shipper's administrator in Maryland, sued his executor
          for 30,000 pounds of tobacco. The executors pleaded non assumpsit, but the
          verdict of the jury went in favor of Plaintiff Digges, and the Court ordered a
          writ of enquiry of damages returnable next court. Next court was held on
          April 2, 1683: at that court, a jury of twelve good and lawful men said upon
          their oaths that the damages sustained “for the price and use of the negroes”
          amount to 10,000 pounds of tobacco. The defendant moved in arrest of judg
          ment, but when the case came up for trial in June, the defendant did not
          appear at all. Thereupon the Court gave administrator Digges the amount the
          jury had awarded, and added an unspecified sum for costs (post, 355-357).
          It seems clear that Christison, at least on that occasion, had indulged in slave
          trading, Quaker though he was.
           Just when Christison died, and where he is buried are not known. Members
          of the Society of Friends are careful to have burial grounds, but they do not
          have grave stones. His will was drawn February 25, 1678, probably 1679, sO
          he was alive then. But the will was probated May 20, 1679, so he was surely
          dead then. Besides his wife Elizabeth, who later married William Digges, he
          left a daughter Mary, another daughter Elizabeth, and an unborn child of
          whom nothing is known.

                               TENNYSON

           Late in October 1680, Elizabeth Tennyson, wife of John, petitioned the
          Council for an order directed to her husband that he allow her a separate
          maintenance, because she could not safely live with him. Tennison, summoned,
          appeared before the Council and said he was willing to receive her into his
          house and to give her reasonable support. At the hearing Tennyson said her
          charges were unwarranted, but he admitted that he could not entertain for her
          the countenance and respect due to a woman in the house of her husband.
          (Archives XV, 321-322). Accordingly the Council ordered the husband to
          deliver to the wife her own bed with its furniture, and all her clothing. Beyond
          that she was to have 300 pounds of meat, three barrels of corn and a thousand
          pounds of tobacco. William Digges, one of the justices, who was also a mem
          ber of the Council, was told to call Tennyson before him and to exact of him
          security for the performance of the order. Came March 1683, and Mrs. Tenni
          son was back. Her husband had died in January, and he had made his sons, who
          were presumably her sons also, sole executors of the will, with no mention of
          his wife. The sons refused to allow her anything at all. Therefore she came
          before the Council for her just dues. The Council referred the petition to the
          Provincial Court, composed, be it remembered, of the same men as the Council,
          and the Court was ordered to give her such relief as they thought just. Colonel
          Digges was ordered to call the sons before him and to put them under bond to
          answer Elizabeth's complaint (post, p. 360).

                             THE INFORMER

           Within this period there was but one case of an informer suing for the
          reward of his work, though the old rule was still in force. By Act of Assembly