THE PREFACE. No experienc'd Conveyan cer can be fuppos'd ig norant in placing and connexing the particular Parts of a Deed or Conveyance, but it may be prefum'd that the Memory of eve ry Practifer, (tho' of good Judgment) may not be fufficient to retain and exactly remember every Covenant and Part of a Deed, especially when it is of great length, and that his Experience may not fully enable him to draw an uncommon Draught without fome Af fiftance, at least not without much Labour and Difficulty: I have therefore compiled this Volume as a Remembrancer of what a A 2 Con veyancer may have fome Knowledge of, and as a Guide and Information in many fpecial Cafes, that he may not have met with in Practice; and it will be particularly useful as an itinerant Library, or Office, to affift the Conveyancer when he is abfent from home, whereby he hath not the Benefit of his Papers; and even at home in his Office it will be no lefs Useful when the Bufinefs in Hand is very uncommon and extraordinary, or (as the Cafe often happens) he can. not turn to an entire Precedent fuiting his Occasion. Some Attorneys there are who advance Notions, That Forms of Covenants in Deeds, or of Deeds themselves, are useless, and pretend to draw a Deed or Conveyance according to Law, without any Affiftance from Pre cedents, cedents, and on that Foundation difregard the Methods obferved by experienced Practitioners; which, however defpifed by the unthinking, must be esteem'd by the careful and prudent Practifer, as a fure Directory, if not effential: But thefe opiniated Gentlemen, after struggling with great Difficulties,have frequently found themselves mistaken in their Defigns to the prejudice of their Clients, as well as the Injury of their Reputations, and been at laft obliged to refort to Precedents, for the Dispatch of their Affairs, with the exactness that is neceffary; as Precedents certainly compleat the Man of Bufinefs, and are of the greatest Use where a Perfon is not entirely govern'd by them, and has Senfe enough to make a proper Applications, i alqumd I have heard able Conveyancers often own, that the infinite variety in the Business of Conveyancing makes it abfolutely neceffary for every Practifer to have a good Collection of Precedents, at least of special Matters either for his imme diate Use and Direction in Draw ing, or for comparing with the Draught when perfected; which Collection is not in the Power and Inclinations of every Clerk, or young Attorney to procure; for if they have Opportunities,the Labour oftentimes proves a great Difcouragement, tho' it has been my good Fortune to have great Opportunities, and not to want Industry to use them: Thefe Confiderations (with a due regard to my own Improvement in turning over all my Draughts, Papers, Manufcripts, c. and in reducing them to Methods, and preparing many new Inftruments) prevail'd with me to undertake and publish Works of this Nature; and fince my Precedents both in my accomplish'd Conveyancer, and in this Volume, are entirely new and of the best fort, I doubt not but the Variety and Method contained in the former, make it compleatly useful to all young Practifers, as this will appear to be, to Men of riper Years and Experience. I hope this Work will not be difefteem'd for containing the Dates and Parties in Deeds: As those Things are small in themfelves, and confequently every Practifer of a tollerable Knowledge may be fupposd to be acquainted with them, the Author thought it neceffary to in fert |