A COMMEKCIAL DAY BOOK. 23 



3 per waggon, viz. : 150 pieces Sandfords bought for me, 

 234 ; 150 pieces his own make, 225." James drew bills 

 on John for value of goods supplied. In nine cases out of 

 ten these bills were discounted by John Newman, who on 

 p. 624 is described as of Exon. It is a fair inference that 

 James also lived at Exeter, which we know to have been an 

 important centre of the cloth industry. 



Accepting as a fact, what we are not in a position to deny, 

 that John, when he became master of Warmwell, did give 

 up his connection with the firm, is it possible to reconcile 

 it with the other fact that in 1716 he is described as a citizen 

 and inhabitant of London ? When and why did he return 

 to the old life ? Is it possible that the cessation of the diary 

 in 1702 synchronised with this step ? George Richards is 

 described in Hutchins's History of Dorset, Vol. II., p. 184, as 

 an eminent Spanish merchant, and it is stated that he was 

 High Sheriff of the County in 1710. Is it possible that John 

 and George were partners, and that John, the elder brother, 

 wishing to lead a country life, or for some other reason, 

 dissolved partnership or became a sleeping partner in 1687, 

 in which year he would have been about 42 years of age ? 

 Then possibly in, or about, 1702 the same desire came upon 

 George ; and John, being unwilling to see the family 

 connection with a very good business come to an end, decided 

 to take up again his citizenship of London and to resume his 

 work. George must have been well established at Longbredy 

 before he could be eligible for the position of High Sheriff. 

 In Hutchins we also find that on the death of George 

 in 1724, three years after that of John, there was a contest 

 between his son and the Richards 's, of Warmwell, which was 

 decided in favour of the former. This dispute might have been 

 connected with the terms of the dissolution of partnership, 

 or with the terms of John's conjectured resumption of the 

 London business. Why, again, is it that James, of Knighton, 

 was John's brother between 1697 and 1702, and his cousin 

 between January, 1713, and the latter 's death, after a linger* 

 ing illness, in 1717, when, it may be mentioned, Joseph Darner 



