Add MS 78615

EVELYN PAPERS. Vol. CCCCXLVIII. Papers relating to prolonged legal proceedings between Sir Richard Browne, the Evelyns, William Pretyman and others; 1674-1690. These arose over the administration of Sayes Court and other properties by William Pretyman while Sir Richard Browne was abroad in the 1640s and 1650s. In order to preserve his ownership and supply himself with money, he conveyed Sayes Court in trust to Pretyman in 1642. When Pretyman refused to settle accounts after the Restoration, Browne began the suit in 1673 `to have an account and redeem his estate'. The defendants in their turn sued him for sums remitted to him abroad and owed to them for administering the estate. The dispute was eventually settled in 1687 by James II's grant to the Evelyns as Sir Richard's heirs of a debt owed to the crown by Pretyman as Receiver of the First Fruits, in settlement of a debt owed by the crown to Browne for expenses incurred while he was Resident in Paris, and by the Evelyns’ agreeing to discharge Pretyman of the debt in return for his making no further demands on them. However, as late as 1690 they were taking action against Pretyman's administrator for payment of the debt granted to them. The papers consist chiefly of draft documents in the hand of Browne, Evelyn and his son, a copy of Pretyman's response to Browne, 26 June 1682, and calculations of the various debts.