IMPRISONMENT FOR DEBT. 131 



barous custom. If a man got into debt, oftentimes by 

 misfortunes over which he had no control, the law locked 

 him up for an indefinite time, thus preventing him from 

 working or carrying on any business to enable him ever 

 to pay his debts. Some singular illustrations of the folly 

 of the system were given at Aylesbury. A Captain 

 Paulet, brother to Lady Nugent, who had a fine old estate, 

 but from youthful folly and extravagance had got into 

 debt, was imprisoned in the county gaol. He did not 

 approve of the prison fare, and begged my father to 

 supply him daily with breakfast and dinner, half a pint 

 of port wine, and a pint of beer. The Captain remained 

 in prison for over two years, and the account, for which 

 my father received no money at the time, increased to 

 over £1^0 \ but my father had confidence in the 

 Captain's honour, and it was justified, for many years 

 afterwards he sent ;^I00, with a promise to pay the 

 balance with interest. Whilst in prison many friends 

 visited the debtor and supplied him with spare cash, 

 till after several years he came into his estate at 

 Addington. But by then he was a broken-down 

 man, and ended his days in an asylum, never having 

 recovered his incarceration. My father did not receive 

 the balance of his account, but I have no doubt, had 

 the Captain been able to have legally arranged with 

 his creditors, most of them would have been paid, at 

 all events a reasonable composition, and he might have 

 ended his days as a quiet country gentleman. 



I remember Captain Paulet well ; he had been a great 

 fisherman, and once caught the finest pike I ever saw 

 from the Weston Turville reservoir ; it was in splendid 



