For the recovery of the tithes, the rector relied entirely on the legal knowledge and acute judgment of his relative; and the draft of the Bill presented in the Court of Exchequer, and now lying at Rydal Hall, is in the latter's handwriting. From this we learn that certain parishioners refused to pay tithes to the newly-instituted rector, and that their refusal was moreover of some years standing, as neither Wallas nor Thompson had been in a position to compel payment from the refractory. There are twenty-one names cited in the bill. Many of these were no doubt conscientious objectors, though some would be of that ever-present class, who seize any excuse for shirking an obligation. From the wording of the petition, that the objectors "pretended" John Ambrose never was parson of Grasmere, nor had been lawfully restored, it looks as if there had been some opposition to the squire's change of minister at the Restoration. Mr. Thomas Brathwaite had assisted him as we have seen in the removal of the Independent, but now the expulsion of the (probable) Presbyterian minister in favour of the Episcopalian roused the ire no doubt of the Presbyterian party, headed by the Ambleside Hall family. Robert Brathwaite, gentleman, was younger brother of Thomas, and had inherited from his father Gawen not only the property of High House, Hugill (where he generally resided) but the small "manor" of Baisbrowne in Langdale. It was on this estate that tithes were claimed from its owner, who heads the list of recalcitrant parishioners. Another prominent statesman among them was Christopher Nicholson, of Padmire, Grasmere, of whose religious persuasion we know nothing. A third was Francis Benson, freeholder; he, along with Mr. Brathwaite and Michael Benson, had served as an elder on the Presbyterian _Classis_, and had now become an ardent Quaker. These, with the rest, had--so the petition declared--combined to resist payment, and had persuaded others to do the like. Their position was certainly weakened by the fact that they had failed to pay these customary dues for its support, while they were satisfied with the ministry; yet the demand now made for fourteen years' arrears, may well have irritated them. The claim upon Mr. Robert Brathwaite's estate stands thus, when placed in the form of a table:--