Volume 2

The eccentric mirror: reflecting a faithful and interesting delineation of male and female characters, ancient and modern, who have been particularly distinguished by extraordinary qualificatons, talents, and propensities, natural or acquired ... with a faithful narration of every instance of singularity, manifested in the lives and conduct of characters who have rendered themselves eminently conspicuous by their eccentricities ... / Collected and re-collected, from the most authentic sources, by G.H. Wilson. In four volumes.

  • Wilson, G. H.
Date:
1806-1807
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The eccentric mirror: reflecting a faithful and interesting delineation of male and female characters, ancient and modern, who have been particularly distinguished by extraordinary qualificatons, talents, and propensities, natural or acquired ... with a faithful narration of every instance of singularity, manifested in the lives and conduct of characters who have rendered themselves eminently conspicuous by their eccentricities ... / Collected and re-collected, from the most authentic sources, by G.H. Wilson. In four volumes. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ginning of the fifteenth century a certain stan- dard was fixeth at present each citizen is an- nually obligerl to take an oath that the sum paid by him is duly proportionate to his property. At his death the tax office has a riglitto inspect his books^ and to examine whether liis contri- bution was always-in proportion to hi^ rcaj pro- perty. If they find the contraiy, if the deceased was not scrupulously exacts even to the merest trifle^ all that he leaves behind is confiscated; and in spite of wife or family, the city exciiequer be- comes his heir. After this little expianation, which the reader will not think unnecessary, wf proceed with the narrative.^ After the few documents had been examined ' and compared with the registers of taxes, the spies ofjustice declared the}’ had found facts suf- ficient to prove, that the deceased had not paid a sum proportionate to his circumstances; whick consequently 'imposed on them the duty of placing all the property he had left behind under lock and seal, and requesting the young lady to retire to an empty apartment till the tax-office should have decided the business. Maria, grown up amid privations, accustomed to compliance,—^^the easily intimidated Maria, readily obeyed. She hastened to ihe emptiest garret, leaving-, the officers unmolested to pul seals upon the doors, and to convey to the tax- office all the papers they could find. Night came on, when Maria, exliausted with fatigue and weeping, sought a place of repose. /