Letter – Henry Rodbourne to John Webb – 7 Jun 1725

Honoured Sir London 						7 Jun' 1725. 

	I have the honour of yo'rs of the 9th N.S. and will take punctuall care of yo'r bills. when pr'sented, as alfo of your tryall att the Assizes, haveing already given direccons in order to itt. I had lately a letter from Hatherope and my Lady with all the family there are in perfect health, and the Young Lady goes on very well, and am extremely glad to hear that you & your deare family are well, w'ch I beseech God to continue. A fewe days since, a Gentleman arrived here from Mr Constable with the Probat of Lady M R's. Will, and 4 other papers w'ch after wee had read, & considered, att Mr Stricklands Chambers, they delivered me Copyyes of em, yc 1st dated 20 ffebry 1722/3 ye 2nd 28th of ffebry 1722/3, the first called instructions to Mr C , is Signed, the other call'd her Verbal Will is unsigned, therein are divers limitacons and bequests and among the rest, a writeing box to my Lord, the M dated the 2d of March, 1724, is call'd a Codicil unsigned, and the 4th dated the Same day is call'd her instrucions to Mr C unsigned, but they Say she declared her intencon to Signe them the next day w'ch proved to be the day of her death, in these two last papers Shee leaves Nafferton, a Moiety of Redheugh, and the tythes of Norham to my L'd chargeable w'th the paym't of 4010 Secured on the said tythes. also to my L'd all her Lead Mynes or Shares in Lead mynes, Subject to the paym't of the Colls debts, three of these papers, are the hand writeing of the good man, but are Such a jumble of incoherences & contradiccons as I haue not mett w'th before. I haue inquired into the value of the Estates menconcd & I finde ye Anuall rents are as follows Viz 	

	Nafferton             218 

	A Moiety of Redheugh  192 

	And Norham Tythes     438 



The tythes are held by Lease for 21 yeares of the B'pp of Durham, renewable every 7 Yeares att 300 fine and £60 / Ann' reserved rent. Redheugh I finde was left by her brother Mr: Francis R, w'th a particular recomendacon of his Godson & nephew, Mr. C. R. who is not So much as named in these papers, and is oddly express'd to my Lord, as follows, I leaue halfe of Redheugh to my litle L'd D in case halfe of itt be thought to belong to him by the best & ablest Council!, and not otherwise, indeed the whole Seemes to be a confused 

disposicon of things, as you'll finde when you read the papers w'ch I presume my Lady will take care to convey safe to your hand : because I humbly thinke they require ye utmost Secrecy, nor can one guess how those contradictions will be reconciled till there is a conference betwixt my Lady and Mr C w'ch I hope will be att her La'pps returne hether. Doct'r Chamberlen haveing assigned the 2000 mortgage upon the marriage of his Daughter to Mr: Hopkins of Warwickshire, hath prevented the paym't of itt according to notice, and w'ch Mr Hopkins desired to continue att 4 p C't ; therefore the last weeke I attended him, and lett him know the money had been ready ever Since the 28th of May, and from that day you expected the interest to cease, and as you had no occasion to continue the money, I desired the mortgage might be assigned, w'ch he promised should be done forthwith. So as I hope that affaire will soone be dispatch'ed. I am with intire Duty and Submifsion. Honoured Sir 

	Yo'r most faithfull & most obedient Servant, 

		Hen: Rodbourne. 



Mr. Errington tells me the double tax is taken off my Lords estate, but not by Mr Ledgard tho' you haue been so generous & kinde to him. 



I forgot to acquainte you, that some discourse happening att our meeteing to read the papers concerning the Coll's Will whereby her La'pp was only ten't for life, y't the whole ought to haue come to my L'd charged only w'th the residue of his debts, w'ch the personall Estate was not Sufficient to pay. the Gentleman answered me that her La'pp haveing bought itt of the Comm'rs Shee thought herselfe Sole & absolute Mistress & might charge or give itt, to whom, or to what uses Shee pleased, to w'ch I replyed, that by Law Shee might do, as he said : but as Shee Sold two of the Mann'rs call'd Plessy & Newsham the first being of ye Anuall value of £458 : 5 : the other of £438 : 15 : for £16200, being £7000 more than the purchase money, I humbly conceived the Surplus w'th the other parts of the Estate in equity & good conscience, ought to haue been left to my L'd in order to discharge the S'd residue of ye debts, and what other incumbrances might affect it w'th Submission & respect, and he seemingly acq ... I said, one thing I could not omitt observeing, . . . last, my L'd had nothing left him but the old w . . . box. 'tho' the will was made the 22d of November 1722, [there] are Severall reversions left, but I do not finde more than £100 in present, left to Mr C 



A Monsieur Monsieur Le Chevalier Webb Proche Berlemont A Bruxelles