Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/58

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NOTES AND QUERIES.

[2'"'S. N 3., JAN. 19. '06.

Monmouth, and with that Leslie who had unsuccessfully commanded the Scotch army against Cromwell, at Dunbar."

There is a mistake in the latter clause of this sentence. It ought to run somewhat thus : And with that Leslie, who had been appointed to command the Scotch army at the beginning of the troubles, was created Earl of Leven by Charles in 1641, and under that designation received the surrender of the monarch in 1646.

The Christian name of Lord Leven was Alex- ander, and Lord Melville married his grand- daughter. It was General David Leslie who commanded at Philiphaugh and at Dunbar.

Nevertheless, most of our recent historians confound them ; and I shall be obliged to you to point out the present error.

WILLIAM LESLIE MELVILLE.

Proclamation against Perm. The following pro- clamation derives its interest from the greatest name included in it, that of William Penn. Yet, however repugnant it may be to the ideas with which the name of Penn is associated, nothing is more certain than that he was regarded by the Whig party as an inveterate, we had almost writ- ten, and an intriguing Jacobite.

" Lolb, Penn, and a score

Of these honest men more, Will find this same Orange exceedingly sour," &c.,

says one of the political songs of the time ; and in another, which we may hereafter print at length, we are told :

" Penn's History shall be related by Lobb, Who has ventured his Xeck for a Snack in the Job."

"Br THE KING AND QUEEN. " A Proclamation

For Discovering; and Apprehending the late Bishop of Enj, William Penn, and James Grahme.

" MAUIE R.

" Whereas Their Majesties have received Information that Francis, late Bishop of Ely, William Penn, Esquire, and James Grahme, Esquire, with other Ill-affected Persons, have Designed and Endeavoured to Depose their Majesties aad Subvert the Government of this Kingdom ' bv procuring an Invasion of the same by the French, and other Treasonable Practices, and have to that end held, Correspondence and Conspired with divers Enemies and Traitors, and particular!}' with Sir Richard Grahme, Ba- ; ronet (Viscount Preston, in the Kingdom of Scotland), and John Ashton, Gent, lately Attainted of High Treason : For which Cause several Warrants for High Treason ' have been issued out against them, but they have with- drawn themselves from their usual Places of Abode, and are fled from Justice: Their Majesties therefore have j thought fit, by and with the Advice of Their Privy- Council, to Issue this Their Royal Proclamation: and Their Majesties do hereby Command and Require all Their Loving Subjects to Discover, Take, and Apprehend the said Francis, late Bishop of Ely, William Penn, and James Grahme, wherever the}' may be found, and to carrv them before the next Justice of the Peace, or Chief Ma"-

gistrate, who is hereby Required to commit them to the next Gaol, there to remain until they be Delivered by Due Course of Law ; and Their Majesties do hereby Re- quire the said Justice or other Magistrate immediately to give Notice thereof to Them or Their Privy Council ; 'and Their Majesties do hereby Publish and Declare to all Persons that shall Conceal the Persons above named, or any of them, or be Aiding or Assisting in the Concealing of them, or furthering their Escape, that they shall be Proceeded against for such their Offence with the utmost Severity according to Law.

" Given at Our Court at Whitehall, the Fifth Day of February, 1 G9, in the Second Year of Our Reign."

Ballot and Municipal Decorum at Barnstaple. The municipal history of Barnstaple is not without interest. Many charters were granted to this ancient borough; but that of James I. (1610), which confirmed and enlarged previous powers and immunities, yielded to none of its predecessors in importance. Mr. Gribble, in his Memorials of Barnstaple (8vo., 1 830), has given copies of some of these charters, and has added a transcript of the bye-laws of the corporation, ratified and al- lowed " on the three and twentieth day of Sep- tember, 1690." One of these bye-laws directs the mr.nner of proceeding at an election of the mayor, which is no otherwise than by ballot. It provides, that when the mayor for the year en- suing cannot by common consent be agreed on,

" Then the more part of the Common Council shall ad- visedly and discreetly, without favour or affection, malice or displeasure, nominate four such men of the Common Council as be of ability convenient and meet for the office of Mayoraltie then for the next year following, and the names of two of them incontinently shall be written, separated and fixed severally on two potts for the same purpose therefore made, then and there as hath been used and accustomed to be sett in a certain place appointed ; and every of the said Mayor, Aldermen, and Councell, to have one ball in their hands also provided for the same, and holding both their hands close, shall put one hand into one pott, and the other hand into the other pott, at one instant time; and letting his ball fall secretly into which pott he list, shall take his hands out of the same potts, shewing them forth openly in such ways, as it may not be known for whonie he giveth his voyce, nor in what pott he puttcth his ball ; which being so done and pe- rused particularly, from the lowest to the highest, the same potts forthwith to be seen that it may be known in what pott most balls be ; and then the names of two other men of the Common Councell shall be written severally and set upon the potts, and to he perused by the Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Councell, with balls, in like manner and forme as it was done before removing the two first names; and afterwards those two mcn'.s names having most voices and balls to be again the third time sett separately on the said two potts, in such manner as it was before ; and then at the last, he whose name is fixed on that pott wherein most balls shall be found, shall be preferred to the office of the Mayoraltie of the said borough and parish for the year next following as hath been accustomed." Jfcmorials, p. 352.

The same process is also directed by the 2nd and 3rd bye-laws to be observed in the election of aldermen (of whom there were two), the common