Introduction
On January 21st, 1800, Mirza Abu Taleb Khan arrived in London, full of eager anticipation. What he never foresaw was the trouble he would get from litigious shopkeepers and tradesmen, who repeatedly defrauded him with the help of a corrupt judicial system. If the Indian ever felt he was being targeted he was quickly disabused: the natives of Jane Austen’s London were being skinned daily too.
I MYSELF had the misfortune to acquire a little experience in this way. Having purchased some cloth, I agreed with a tailor to make me a coat for ten shillings.* Although there were two witnesses present, and I even had the agreement in his own hand-writing, he denied it, and sent me a bill for twenty shillings.
I gave him the ten, but refused to pay him more: he said it was well, he should complain to the court of justice, and make me pay the remainder. He went immediately, and procured a summons for me to appear, but this he never delivered; and, after a certain time, produced a decree from one of the courts, ordering me immediately to pay the ten shillings, and à further fine of six shillings, for not having obeyed the summons. This I thought extreme injustice, and consulted one of my friends, who was an attorney, what I should do. He replied, “Although the case is very hard, you must immediately pay the money: you may then sue him for having withheld the summons, and for having, by that means, obtained an unjust decision against you.”
* There were twenty shillings to the pound sterling (£), with a shilling (s) equal to twelve pence (d). The pound sterling (£, a unit of currency) should not be confused with the pound avoirdupois (lb, a unit of weight). Abu Taleb gives us some sample prices in Regency London:
Meat (‘of all kinds’): sevenpence-ha’penny (7½d) a lb (0.45kg)
Bread: 15d for 4lb (about 4 typical 400g loaves)
Porter (dark beer): 5d a quart (2 pints or 1.13 litres)
For his evening meals in Dublin he paid five shillings (Abu Taleb, like runaway slave Frederick Douglass visiting forty years later, very much liked the Irish), and four shillings when travelling in England — or eight when his host, going Dutch, charged him for wine the abstemious Muslim had not drunk. It cost him four shillings to get his turban dyed (but only a shilling and sixpence in France, where the colour lasted better). He estimated that there were eight Indian rupees to the pound.
Précis
During a visit to Regency London, Mirza Abu Taleb Khan ordered a suit for ten shillings. The tailor, however, demanded twice the agreed fee, and took his demand to court; but he never told Abu Taleb, who was duly fined for failing to answer a summons. To his disgust, his lawyer advised him to pay up and countersue. (58 / 60 words)
During a visit to Regency London, Mirza Abu Taleb Khan ordered a suit for ten shillings. The tailor, however, demanded twice the agreed fee, and took his demand to court; but he never told Abu Taleb, who was duly fined for failing to answer a summons. To his disgust, his lawyer advised him to pay up and countersue.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: besides, if, just, may, otherwise, unless, whereas, whether.
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