‘I enclose you a draft for usurious interest due to Lord B.’s protégé. I also could wish you would state thus much for me to his Lordship. Though the transaction speaks plainly in itself for the borrower’s folly and the lender’s usury, it never was my intention to quash the demand, as I legally might, nor to withhold payment of principal, or perhaps even unlawful interest. You know what my situation has been, and what it is. I have parted1 with an estate (which has been in my family for nearly three hundred years, and was never disgraced by being in possession of a lawyer, a churchman, or a woman, during that period) to liquidate this and similar demands; and the payment of the purchase is still withheld, and may be, perhaps, for years. If, therefore, I am under the necessity of making those persons wait for their money (which, considering the terms, they can afford to suffer), it is my misfortune.
‘When I arrived at majority in 1809, I offered my own security on legal interest, and it was refused. Now, I will not accede to this. This man I may have seen, but I have no recollection of the names of any of the parties but the agents and the securities. The moment I can, it is assuredly my intention to pay my debts. This person’s case may be a hard one, but, under all circumstances, what is mine? I could not foresee that the purchaser of my estate was to demur in paying for it.
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1 Byron then believed that he had sold Newstead for 14O,000l., but the sale on this occasion was not completed. |
| 128 | ROGERS AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES |
‘I am glad it happens to be in my power so far to accommodate my Israelite, and only wish I could do as much for the rest of the Twelve Tribes.
