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   proved, the goods would never have been shipped, and on my claiming delivery of same, I should have been answered by Mr. Smith that, no notice of approval having reached him from his principal, the sale was null and void (i). Now, on the contrary, a fall having taken place, the selling firm intend to have me compelled to meet the engagement, as they call it, seeing that the clause of approval does not appear on the face of the written agreement.
   I see the foul play as plain as daylight now; I was cunningly taken in by that Mr. Smith, on whose straightforwardness I fully relied, but I hope and trust that your cleVerness, as a man of the law, will have the upper hand of their mischief and that their plans will be utterly baffled.
   L.  I don't go so far as to believe the whole affair to have been plotted in advance, but surely the case is a rather complicated one ; however we shall try to clear the way. In my opinion the first step to be taken is to file a statement of the case (2) and prove through witnesses, that a condition of approval had been agreed upon.
   This done, the question arises at to whether the Tunis firm may be hell bound by a clause
   (1) Nuli a-id void c ^risponde a « indio e di nessun effetto »
   (2) Statement of the case  Esposizione del fatto.
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   agreed upon by their agent, but not inserted in the provisional document of the sale, which, is rather doubtful. In a supposed negative case, however Mr. Smith's personal responsibility, as I said before, comes into play, and to that effect we had better make him a party to the case (1) from the beginning of the suit. Is he a responsible person? (2).
   0.  He is one of the largest landowners in our district, and I know him besides to have considerable money invested in one of our leading banking houses.
   L.  That's a good thing, for it would be useless to fight against a wind-mill, like Cer-vantes's celebrated hero.
   Now, what I recommend you most earnestly is to find out the persons who can give evidence (3) of your parol agreement (4) with Mr. Smith. At your earliest convenience (5) let
   (1) To make one a party to a case  Chiamar uno in causa, cioè farlo intervenire come parte in causa.
   (2) L'aggettivo responsible non è qui usato nel senso corrispondente a responsabile, ma in quello di « capace di rispondere, cioè solvibile ».
   (3) Vedi nota 1, pag. 126.
   (4) Parol agreement o Parol contract  Termine legale per « Contratto verbale ».
   (5) At your earliest convenience  Locuzione avverbiale usitatissima anche nella corrispondenza commerciale, e corrispondente nel significato all'italiana » al più presto possibile».
   R. Gambaro  Dialoghi commerciali inglesi. ®