348 A S G I L L, '* alignments of fecuriti-es have been a pretty fort of perqui-
- ' fices, efpcually if they have an old judgement or fta'.ute
" kept on foot, thefe are certain annual incomes.
- ' knew two ferjeants at law (ufurers), who made it their
- ' common practice every long vacation, to fwop fecurities
<* with one another, (o make (heir mortgagees pay for the
- ' alignments; and (doing this without advice of counfel)
" they once merged an old term, and thereby fpoiled their title to fecure their fees; which (as to them) anfwers the " charailer given thefe graduates by a foreign hiftorian :
- ' * Eft in regna Anglic genus hominum dodtorum indo&iffi-
- ' mum eommunitcr vocatum, the learned ferjeants at law.*
" Now I cannot think but theie conveyancers and affigners ' would be afhamed to produce fuch things to a regirtry j " and that therefore they muft either abbreviate their con-
- veyances, or lofe their practice. But whether this regif-
- ' try will make thefe reductions, i. of the length of con-
" veyances, 2. the incertainties of titles, and, 3. by confe- " quence, the oiher practice in the law, I cannot tell: how-
- { ever, I hope it; and believe fome of them fear it. But if
- ' the cries of monks and friars had been regarded, we had
u never heard of the di flotation of monafteries; and if the < clamours of matters of requeit, clerks, and efcheators had ' *' Prevailed, the court of wards and liveries had been ftand- " ' n g to this day : and yet perhaps moft of thefe had pur- ." chafed their places, or were bred up to that part of the law P- lS ' only." In the year 1698, Mr. Afgill published a treatife on the poflibility of avoiding death [A]. It is fcarce to be conceiv- ed, what a clamour it raifed, and how great an outcry was made againft the author. Dr. Sacheverell mentioned it Dr. Sache- among other blafphemous writing?, which induced him to think the church in danger. In 1699, an aft being parted
- or re ^ umm g forfeited eftates in Ireland, commiflioners were
appointed to fettle claims ; and Mr. Afgill, being at this time fomcwhat embarrafied in his circumftances, refolved to go over to Ireland* On his arrival there, the favour of the commifTioncrs and his own merit procured him great prac- tice, the whole nation almoft being then engaged in law- [A] The title of this Ireatife wa?, Death, although the human Nature ' An Argument, proving that, accord- ' of Chrift hitnfelf could not thus be ' ing to the Covenant of eternal Life, " tranflated till he had pnfled through ' revealed in the Scriptures, Man may " Death." It was priated originafly be tranflated from hence into that in the year 1700, and has been re-
- ' eternal Life without pafiing through printed feveral years fine,
fuics,
