resentment, he ought to have foreseen the consequences. It was mere
madness in him to think of contesting with a man of Mr. Tyrrel's
eminence and fortune. It was a fawn contending with a lion. Nothing
could have been more easy to predict, than that it was of no avail for
him to have right on his side, when his adversary had influence and
wealth, and therefore could so victoriously justify any extravagancies
that he might think proper to commit. This maxim was completely
illustrated in the sequel. Wealth and despotism easily know how to
engage those laws as the coadjutors of their oppression, which were
perhaps at first intended [witless and miserable precaution!] for the
safeguards of the poor.

From this moment Mr Tyrrel was bent upon Hawkins's destruction; and he
left no means unemployed that could either harass or injure the object
of his persecution. He deprived him of his appointment of bailiff, and
directed Barnes and his other dependents to do him ill offices upon all
occasions. Mr. Tyrrel, by the tenure of his manor, was impropriator of
the great tithes, and this circumstance afforded him frequent
opportunities of petty altercation. The land of one part of Hawkins's
farm, though covered with corn, was lower than the rest; and
consequently exposed to occasional inundations from a river by which it
was bounded. Mr. Tyrrel had a dam belonging to this river privately cut,
about a fortnight before the season of harvest, and laid the whole under
water. He ordered his servants to pull away the fences of the higher
ground during the night, and to turn in his cattle, to the utter
destruction of the crop. These expedients, however, applied to only one
part of the property of this unfortunate man. But Mr. Tyrrel did not
stop here. A sudden mortality took place among Hawkins's live stock,
attended with very suspicious circumstances. Hawkins's vigilance was
strongly excited by this event, and he at length succeeded in tracing