Page:A tour through the northern counties of England, and the borders of Scotland - Volume II.djvu/148

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tation, and hostility; and although four determi- nations of the House of Commons have resolved that the right vests in the inhabitants at large, and thus prevented any future contests on that head, yet the effecls of former ones are still felt in latent heats, which burst into open flame, as often as the political match is applied to this irritabile genus, the constituents of Preston. Amongst other pri- vileges attached to the town, it has the peculiar one of holding once in every twenty years a sort of jubilee; which is generally resorted to by all the fafhion of the neighbouring country. It continues through the whole month of August; during which the town is filled with amusements; the Mayor gives repeated entertainments ; and the Cor- poration parade occasionally through the streets, attended by the trading companies of the place, arrayed in the insignia of their professions. The whole town, in short, is dissolved in idleness and pleasure. Amongst the various courts which its charter privileges Preston to hold, is the Court of Chancery of the Duchy of Lancaster, where the vice-chancellor of the Duchy presides as judge, at- tended by an attorney -general, a chief clerk, re- gistrar and examiner, five attornies, a prothono- tary and his deputy, and clerks of the peace and of the crown. It is of very ancient establishment;

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