Brewer's: Lawsuits

Miles d'Illiers, Bishop of Chartres (1459-1493), was so litigious, that when Louis XI. gave him a pension to clear off old scores, and told him in future to live in peace and goodwill with his neighbours, the bishop earnestly entreated the king to leave him some three or four to keep his mind in good exercise. Similarly Panurge entreated Pantagruel not to pay off all his debts, but to leave some centimes at least, that he might not feel altogether a stranger to his own self. (Rabelais: Pantagruel, iii. 5.) (See Lilburn.)

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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