MEMOIR OP DRURY. 2 I 



amounted to the value of upwards of 10,OW). It 

 unfortunately turned out, on future investigation, 

 that the security for this large sum was of no value, 

 the parties not having a legal right to the estate in 

 question, and having concerted the scheme to plun- 

 der him of his property. To aggravate this evil, he 

 had met with several severe losses in trade only a 

 short time before, and his freehold property had 

 previously been assigned over to Mr. Jeffreys as 

 security for the balance of the purchase-money of 

 the business. He thus felt himself stripped of all 

 his property. 



In these circumstances he had no alternative but 

 to call a meeting of his creditors, and lay before 

 them a statement of his affairs. He was thereupon 

 declared bankrupt, and surrendered all his property 

 under the commission. 



A thorough conviction of the sterling worth of 

 his character, distinguished, as it had always been, 

 for integrity, honourable feeling, and great diligence 

 in business, predisposed his creditors to treat him 

 with the utmost lenity. By the assistance of his 

 friends (among whom we find the names of Dr. Fo- 

 thergill and Mr. Banks), he was enabled to repur- 

 chase his stock in trade, and resume his business in 

 his former premises. He appears to have borne this 

 reverse of fortune with great fortitude, but his con- 

 stitutional sensibility led him to feel deeply on the 

 occasion. The state of his mind in some measure 

 appears from the following extract from a letter 

 addressed to a reverend friend at Warnham, near 



