and terror, amusing to the debtor if his _sang froid_ is equal to a little detachment! Carrion of the debt-collecting and process-serving species is very human in its appreciation of “tips.” Indulgence in pleasantry, too, goes a long way sometimes in gaining some petty privilege!) An instrument of the law known as the “specially endorsed writ” (for sums of £20 and upwards) is quite pestilential to the victim of credit. If the debtor happens to be in possession of a little money, it only adds to his expense to “enter an appearance”; it is usually better, therefore, to let the creditor “sign judgment” in due course. Solicitors still glory in these writs: where the debtor is likely to meet the obligation, an interesting little bill of costs for doing virtually nothing also stands a fair chance of being met without taxation. The costs are generally from three guineas to four pounds in the endorsement on the writ, and they are apt to tempt the person writted to send in a covering cheque for debt and costs, as marked. Service is often effected by the office boy, so that, with the exception of the stamp on the original writ, the expense is practically nothing. In other words, the solicitor earns his three guineas too easily, for there is a tendency not to tax such costs, which are unfair to a debtor who is not particularly pressed for money, who means to pay, and whose failure to do so has been due chiefly to oversight or neglect. We know that a debt of £50 is a basis for making a person bankrupt. Consequently, the debtor whose funds abruptly cease may have many trials to face with debts which only run to a few hundred pounds. Furthermore, suppose some trifling debt--for ten pounds or so--is pushed into a judgment in the county court. Later on it is matured by the machinations of a solicitor into an order of the court for the payment of so much a month. If the debtor is unable to meet the order he may be committed to prison for contempt of court--arising from disobedience to pay. Thus imprisonment for debt evolves itself.