1

344

A Defcription of LEICESTERSHIRE.

general Fairfax, by lord Loughborough,
upon mean conditions. In St. Martin's
church here, is a memorable epitaph, o-
ver Mr. John Heyrick, who died, April 2,
1589, aged 76; he lived in one houfe with
Mary his wife full 52 years, and in all
that time never buried man, woman, or
child, tho' fometimes 20 in family. The A
faid Mary lived to 97 years, and saw be-
fore her death, Dec. 8, 1611, of her chil-
dren, childrens children, and their chil-
dren, to the number of 143.

2. Afhby de la Zouch, fo called as be-
longing formerly to the noble family of the
Zouches, 16 miles N. W. from Leicester,
pleafantly fituated between two parks, near
Derbyshire, and is a town of very good B
account, with a large handsome church,
and a confiderable market on Saturdays.
Its 4 annual fairs are noted for excellent
young horfes. It had a caftle, which was
demolished in 1648, by ordinance of par-
liament, but two towers ftill remain. In
the neighbourhood is Cole-Overton, fa-
mous for coal mines.

3. Loughborough, about 9 miles N, E. from Ashby de la Zouch, pleasantly seated among fertile meadows, a handsome, wellbuilt town, which fome will have to be a royal ville in the Saxon times. It has a good market on Thursdays. A little S. W. of this town lies Charnwood, or CharnleyForest, 20 miles in compass.

Aug.

was fought the decifive battle between Richard III. and Henry earl of Richmond, wherein the latter proving victorious, and having flain his enemy, obtained the crown, and reign'd, the first of the Tu dors, by the name of Henry VII. And here is a little mount, where Henry made a Speech to encourage his army before the

battle.

8. Hinkley, 4 miles S. E. of Bofworth, a small town, whose market is on Mondays. It stands pleasantly on an hill, and has a large, fair church, with a great stone fpire fteeple.

9. Lutterworth, 11 miles S. E. of Hinkley, a fmall town, feated in a good foil, with a market on Thurfdays. The fa mous John Wickliffe was rector of this place: He was the first English reformer, in the reign of Edward III. and zealously preached and wrote against the abominable corruptions of the church of Rome; for which tho' he was violently perfecuted by the Popish clergy, who fought his C life, yet being protected by the duke of Lancafter, and fome other great men, ke ended his days in peace; tho' afterwards his bones were dug up and burnt, by order of the council of Conftance, the fame pious council, which, contrary to all good faith, fentenced John Huffe and Jerome of Prague to the flames, tho' they had the emperor's letters of safe conduct, in confequence of their villainous decree, that no faith was to be kept with hereticks. The church of Lutterworth, which has a neat and lofty fpire steeple, was fome years ago beautified with a coftly pavement of chequer'd ftene, new pews, and every thing else new, except the pulpit, which is made of thick oak planks, fix inches fquare, with a feam of carved work in the joints; which is preferved in memory of the abovementioned Wickliffe, whofe pulpit it was, if tradition may be relied upon. Camden fays, there is a fpring of water near Lutterworth, fo very cold, that it foon converts ftraws and fticks into stone.

D

4. Mount-Sorrel, or rather Mount-
Soar Hill, because fituate under a great
eminence on the river Soar, over which it
has a good stone bridge. It lies about 6
miles S. E. from Loughborough, and has a
Small market on Mondays. In times past
it was of great renown for its caftle, feat-
ed on a steep and craggy hill, formerly be-
longing to the earls of Leicester, and af. E
terwards to Quincy earl of Winchester,
but was demolished in 1217.

5. Melton Mowbray, fo denominated
from its ancient lords the Mowbrays, 11
miles N. E. from Mount-Sorrel, a pretty
large, well-built town, fituate in a fertile
foil, and having a market on Tuesdays fo
very confiderable for corn, cattle, hogs,
fheep, &c, that next to Leiccfter, it is
esteemed the best in the county. It has a
beautiful church, in the form of a cross,
which feems to have been formerly col-
legiate.

6. Waltham on the Would, 3 miles N. E. from Melton-Mowbray, a mean town, but has a market on Thursdays.

F

7. Bofworth, or Market- Bofworth, 11 G miles W. of Leicefter, an antient, pleafant town, feated on a hill, in a wholefome air and fruitful foil both for corn and grafs, and having a good market on Wedneldays. About 3 miles from this town

10. Harborough, or Market-Harborough, 6 miles S. E. of Lutterworth, a good thorough fare town, with a confiderable market on Tuesdays. It is remarkable, that this town has no fields nor lands belonging to it, infomuch that they have a proverb here, That a goofe will eat up all the grafs that grows at Harborough. It gives title of earl to the family of Sherrard.

11. Hallaton, about 6 miles N. E. of Harborough, a poor town in a rich foil, that has a small market on Thursdays, and a hardfome church.

12. Billefdon, 4 miles N. W. of Hallaton, has a market on Fridays.

JOUR

345

17512 JOURNAL of the PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES in the POLITICAL CLUB, continued from p. 307.

be fooner prorogued or diffolved by fuch perfon who fhall be next heir to the crown; and this without diftinction, whether the next heir fhall be a perfon of full age, or an infant of three days old; therefore when the A next heir happens to be an infant, those who get poffeffion of his perfon may prevent the parliament's acting, by proroguing or diffolving it as foon as it has met; and as they are not obliged by law to call another, they may fall upon ways and means, as Richard III. did, to fupport their government, till they have concerted proper methods for getting fuch a parliament chofen, as will approve of all they have done, or propose to be done.

I find, gentlemen do not enough confider, that the neceffity of fuch a bill as this proceeds from a moft glaring, and indeed a moft tremendous defect in our conftitution; for with B respect to the fovereign, the law acknowledges no fuch thing as a minority: A child of two or three days old may by our conftitution come to be our king or queen, and the moment the father dies, that child is by

As many little defects in our con

law invested with the whole fovereign C ftitution have been removed fince his

majefty's happy acceffion to the throne, fo his majefty from his wif dom and goodness intended by the meffage he fent us upon this occafion, to get this great and tremendous defect removed, by having such a reDgulation now made as may be a precedent fit to be followed by all future generations; and as the other house has concurred, fo I hope, this house will concur with his majesty in this most wife and moft gracious intenti on; for that fome new regulation for preventing the unlawful feizure and unjuft detainer of the person of an infant fovereign is neceffary, I believe, no gentleman will deny; and as the prefent defign is not only to provide against the prefent eventual misfortune, which heaven avert, but against all future misfortunes of the like nature, both the circumstances and characters of the perfons now in being, or that may hereafter happen to exift, must be left entirely out of the queftion. The amiable character of the princess now to be appointed regent, might induce us to put ber

or executive power of the govern-
ment; fo that whoever gets poffeffi-
on of the perfon of that child, whe-
ther by fair or forcible means, be-
comes of courfe poffeffed of the go-
yernment, and all the prerogatives
belonging to the fovereign. By this
defect it was that Richard duke of
Gloucefter, afterwards Richard III.
got poffeffion of the fovereign pow-
er, and by this he was enabled to
perpetrate the many murders and
other heinous crimes he was guilty
of. From this defect, Sir, every E
gentleman may fee, that upon every
minority that happens, confufion and
civil wars must probably arife, if not
prevented by a proper law paffed dur
ing the life of the preceding fove-
reign Nor can this danger be pre-
vented by the law we now have, by
which it is enacted, That upon the
demife of the fovereign, the parlia
ment hall immediately meet, fit,
and act, during the term of fix
months; because in that act there is
this condition, Unlefs the fame shall
Mr. SG-
Auguft, 1751.

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X X

346 PROCEEDINGS of the POLITICAL CLUB, &c. Aug.

her under lefs reftraints, and the
great character of the perfon now to
be put at the head of the council of
regency, might induce us to give
him more power; but to put the re-
gent under lefs reftraints, or to give
the head of the council of regency A
more power, might upon fome fu-
ture occafion be attended with the
moft pernicious confequence: Where-
as, the restraints upon the former,
and the powers given to the latter,
are by this bill fo well adjusted, that
let the perfons hereafter to be ap- B
pointed be who they will, neither
the restraints nor the powers, if the
fame with thofe in this bill, can ever,
in my opinion, be the caufe of any
mifchief.

Gentlemen may fancy what they
will, Sir, of the wisdom and mag- C
nanimity of future parliaments, but
from the experience of times past,
we must conclude, that when a per-
fon of great influence, a prince per-
haps who is prefumptive heir to the
crown, has a precedent in his favour,
it will be very difficult to get a ma- D
jority in parliament to depart from
that precedent, especially fhould it
be a precedent that has been attend-
ed with great happinefs, and per-
haps great glory to the nation, as the
precedent would probably be, fhould
we now appoint the princess named E
in the bill, to be fole regent with fo-
vereign power. I have fo firm, fo
well grounded an opinion of the ma-
ny good qualities of the princefs pro-
pofed by this bill to be appointed re-
gent, that I am convinced, our in-
vefting her with fovereign power
would be attended with happiness,
and perhaps glory to the nation;
but for this very reafon I am against
it, because it would add fuch weight
to the precedent, that it would be
impoffible, upon any future occafion,
to depart from it, however ftrong
and evident the reafons might then
be for a departure; and as this might
be of the most dangerous confequence
to fome one of her pofterity, per-

F

haps to all her pofterity, it prevents my fhewing that regard which is due to her extraordinary endowments.

I may, perhaps, be thought to have too great a regard to precedents, as fome of my profeffion certainly have; but this I will fay, Sir, that in all questions in politicks as well as law, precedents ought to be duly confidered, and never departed from without very urgent caufe. Our regulations of government during minorities have not, 'tis true, been all exactly the fame; but we never yet gave a regent or protector the whole of the fovereign power, except Richard duke of Gloucefter, who may be faid rather to have taken than to have gotten it; and a council of regency of fome kind or other has always been appointed, except in the minority of Henry III. when the earl of Pembroke, flagrante bello civili, was appointed fole regent under fome reftrictions; but that furely is a precedent we have no reason to follow in a time of profound tranquillity, and when there is no fuch thing, nor any appearance of fuch a thing as a hoftile army in the kingdom.

Then as to faction, Sir, I fhall grant, that all limited governments are liable to faction, and the more they are limited, the more they are liable to that political diftemper ; therefore I fhall admit, that government by a regent and council of regency is more liable to faction, than a government by a fole regent with fovereign power; but if we examine which has produced the most fignal mifchiefs, we must conclude, that the balance is greatly on the fide of the latter. It may be faid, tho', in my opinion, not justly, that by faction in the minority of Henry VI. we loft the kingdom of France, which, I believe, no man will now G fay, was a national misfortune; but the fole regency of Richard duke of Gloucefter, without the check of a council of regency, produced the extirpation, I may fay, of one royal

family,