3 io N A T :U R A L H I S I O R é t
from it *) yields -in-tin and lands .:tafihefceditiatyhtev^tDs$ much
lupeiior to what! the crown ha® intay.eounty in .Engiahdi, andAat
éight öfiAefe boroughs * had either - an- ’inbinediate temote/èolL^
neétion with the demefne lands ofithisfdutehy; a . link formerly o f
much A id e r union tad higher aeommand A^atHprefeat, Four
other boroughs depended ony or ^wholly belonged-tè^religious houfes
which.’fell to the crown at the • diflolution > of Monafteries, in the
reign o f Henry VIII. For inftance, Newport iroSe with Lancefton
priory”, and with it fell to thé crown. Penryn depended much on
the rich college of-Glafhey and its lands 4 the manorlafe twarMe-
nated by Edward V I \ but reftored by Queen Mary, .'-and th é town
privileged 'by her. St. German’s was - Bodtwah) the chief
priory in Cornwall, and the borough o f Fawyiék. to the crown with
the priory of TrewardraiA,’^©-which it belonged; I
The other boroughs remain A be taken nptèee of. -:Miehel belonged
to the rich and highly allied family o f the Arundel s of Lan-
hearne, and St. Ives and Callington to the familyJ of Fawlet (Marquis
of Winchefter, now Duke of Bolton) by marrymg3ibeiK®8l
o f Willughby Lord Brook, lome time of-Newton-forrers in nthis
eountya. Now thefe feveral ctanexions of the additional boroughs
may point out to us thcrife o f Ais privilege*-!
Henry VII. reduced the power of the ancient Lords, arid icon-
fcqucntly advanced that of the Commons r Henry VIII. enriehed
many o f the 'Commons w iA Church-lands 4 and in A e fatter end
of the reign of Edward VI. the Duke O— of Northumberltand could
hot but perceive of what confequence it was to his ambitious ichemes
to have a majority in the houfe Jöf' Commónsij .and .Cornwall feems
to have been pitched upon as Ae.moft proper -fcene ifoir this ftretch
of the prerogative, beeaufc of the large propertyc, and GonfequentTy
influence of the Dutchy: Six towns therefore depdodingron the
Dutchy and Church-lands, and one borough of a .powerful family
were indulged to fend fourteen members* .The miniftry>of thofe
days were not fo defective in artifice as not to oblige powerful Lords
now and then with the lame indulgence which .they granted to thefe
boroughs, thereby endeavouring either to reconcile thorn to their
adminiflration, or to make this guilty increafe of the prerogative
, * Whenever thp (Sovereign hate no eldeft ion,
the -Dutchy of --Cornwall is in-the-Crown.
a Sakafh, Camelford, Weft-Loo, Granpont,
Tindagel, Tregeny;, St. Maws, nnd Weft-Loo..
b T h e religious of St. ' Stephen’s Collegiate
Church being removed from the brow of the hill
into a lower filiation, contiguous to the walls of
Lancefton, ^bout three hundred years before, the
town of Newport was built on the “ground adjoining.
* Not. Parliamentarian vol.*II. page 109. '
d O f which fami jy one Lord was buried & the
Church oLCallington, where his tomb is ftill to
'beleen.
. ? In the fifteenth of Henry VIII. the revenues
of the Dutchy óf Cornwall, with its * dependant
rights and manors, was reckoned, fays Sir. J.
Doderidge, at ten thoufand and ninty-five pounds
eleven fnilling^ and nine pence, \^nich property
became greatly increafed by the faH of religions
houfes in - the end of the reign <of Henry the
eighth.
o f I i q p r ?n H h % h ya -m
k&mvidio&i, :^ e e u Mary% h e r . f r o m the
fops© mO&mjmdmitted .tvvq/more, tad Queen Elizabeth, who never
r&jefted 'anyipolkical precedent’which rffight -confirm - her power,
(though.always, it m*ft browned, exerting that power fix %
ptDfp©t%Sof.fefepecplejias^vell -as,her-®wa glory)-admitted fix
other boroughs*!
The only iiA n e e s which- could give the lead: fpldiur-of juftice
A % f e proceedings, were fowl, tad wefck, The, borough of
genyffeat :bu«gefles, indeed twice, © M p L ^ e twenty-third and
thirty-fifth o f ; Edward I.ifbut in© mojevtiTAerfifft o f • Eliizaheth.
fefl-Lob cand'Fawy fenfcone and- the feqie-merchant then qall^d a
Ship-owner!, fto a council at Weftminfter fn©Mo Parfa’n^S) fin tfte
fourteenth o f CdwaiMvIIIf. O f thpfe, f% e v e r | '(^ e e r iT l^ b e fti
laid hold , for .the ntore * fpeeibus promoting f hpffirft
year Ihe revived tkj-elaims ©FT&geity^ in the fifth of her r e i^ /
“ Fucgeffes befog returned for ;STt,iJferEntaefs fand St. MiWs fn Cornwall,
Mr. > Speaker !«feckred fin Afc
^greeflc^ieylhonJd'i^rt
-to Aew their Letters-Rttents why they iti- this ^ 1&-
ment^V^JBut th^fwere no forth^’queliioned-.-ffays'Dr. Willis, ib.
page 116.81), -the uadorflppd.’^ B
In jthe thirteenth o f -Elizabeth bdth Eaft-Loo ;and Fmyy elected
.two .members, .whjcH ' belng takeii hotice. ^of ^and. exattiified fifi^,
fcf Report iwas^tmde by the -Hoilfe of the validity *of Athie Burgeffes,
.and it >was .ordered*! by the Attorney-general's affent, ^hatfithe Burr
jgefleS ihall remain according -to their Ant the validity
p f .thefieharterslisielfewherelito be maniined, if'caufe feeAtM* By
‘which '.mdans, feys Dr. Willis, fib . page iofef 'little eff'mo dilpute
being rimde .againft, Ae.f^geeii’s^ power, thefihOufe became greatly
increafed with reprefentatives, efpecially by the fending ofJurge|fes
■ from thefe boroughs*’’
Nor was it any .qhje&ion, I ima^ne, t6 their fending up members,
that thefe boroughs had little trade, few inhabitants, ancf thofe
poor and of vno eminence:, thefe.circfimftanees in all likelihood did,,
rather promote than 'prevent their being priyifegfed,i -as rendering
Aeixiijmore tractable and dependant than if they had been laige and
opuledt towns, inhabited by perfons of tirade, rank, and difeernment-
It is <true indeed, thefe places fo fotamoriedw^^^d-bprough^(i|i
the legahacceptation of A e word), that is, had immunities panted
(them by their Princes-ior Lords, exemptions from fefvices in other
f -the .orirahaljW^t, Pryn. Brev. Parliaififent, • to, -ftsyiijg,, and Teturnmg.fiojji
vol.TV. page iBo, X07, where j. ShalceloK: was 'pounds*twelveTOfihigs.'. ’ J
returned at the fame tune {or Polruan only, and s Piyn. Brev. Pari. vol.-IV. page I H s H
thefe Members allowed for forty-four days iii going - ^ Pryn. Pafl. dtegifter, paKriv.'i^pigfciiyy