MRS. BULL.--Look you, Friend Diego, if we law it on till Lewis turns
honest, I am afraid our credit will run low at Blackwell Hall. I
wish every man had his own; but I still say, that Lord Strutt's
money shines as bright and chinks as well as Esquire South's. I
don't know any other hold that we tradesmen have of these great
folks but their interest: buy dear and sell cheap, and I warrant ye
you will keep your customer. The worst is, that Lord Strutt's
servants have got such a haunt about that old rogue's shop, that it
will cost us many a firkin of strong beer to bring them back again;
and the longer they are in a bad road, the harder it will be to get
them out of it.

D. DIEGO.--But poor Frog, what has he done! On my conscience, if
there be an honest, sincere man in the world, it is that Frog.

MRS. BULL.--I think I need not tell you how much Frog has been
obliged to our family from his childhood; he carries his head high
now, but he had never been the man he is without our help.* Ever
since the commencement of this lawsuit, it has been the business of
Hocus, in sharing out expenses, to plead for Frog. "Poor Frog,"
says he, "is in hard circumstances, he has a numerous family, and
lives from hand to mouth; his children don't eat a bit of good
victuals from one year's end to the other, but live upon salt
herring, sour curd, and borecole. He does his utmost, poor fellow,
to keep things even in the world, and has exerted himself beyond his
ability in this lawsuit; but he really has not wherewithal to go on.
What signifies this hundred pounds? place it upon your side of the
account; it is a great deal to poor Frog, and a trifle to you."
This has been Hocus's constant language, and I am sure he has had
obligations enough to us to have acted another part.