Page:The histories of Launceston and Dunheved, in the county of Cornwall.djvu/222

 200 DUNHEVED. and true faith bear to the Sovereign, and would faithfully serve the Mayor and Aldermen and Corporation as one of the Common Council, and would assist, and be obedient, concerning such things as they might lawfully and reasonably command : Also that he would keep the orders and bye-laws of the Common Council, and honestly and indifferently behave himself, for the benefit and worship of the borough, and the inhabitants. The Freeman's Oath was to the same general purport as that of the Common Councillor, with the addition that he should not, by colour of being Freeman, bear out, or cover under* him, any foreign person or stranger. Steward's Oath. You shall swear that you will well and truly tax, assess, and affeer the several accounts and amercements that shall be presented unto you, wherein you shall spare no one for love, favour, or affection, nor increase any man for malice or ill-will, but on every man set the same according to the quality of his offence. In the 4th week of Lent 2 & 3 Philip and Mary, 1555, Agnes Prest, of Northcott Hamlet, Boyton, was indicted at Launceston for denying the Real Presence in the Sacra- ment of the Altar, and for saying that no Christian doth eat the Body of Christ carnally but spiritually. A true bill was found against her, and the petty jury also found her guilty. She was then sent to the Bishop of Exeter for further examination. She persisted in her former opinion, and was condemned as a heretic. Finally she was delivered to the Sheriff of Devonshire, and was executed at Southernhay, outside the walls of Exeter, in November, 1558. During her long imprisonment all attempts to in- duce her to recant must have failed. She is supposed to have been the only martyr for the Protestant religion, in the diocese of Exeter, during Mary's reign. The Queen herself died on St. Leonard's-day [17 Nov.], 1558. Her short reign is probably attributable to her in- tolerant disposition, and the depressing effect of her loss of Calais, which the English had held for 210 years, and which