50 SHAFTESBURY. 



to 1)e relevecl, and there are not above 30 houpcholclers in all the 

 towne able to give releifFe." Again, 10 years later, they address 

 another abject • petition to the Earl of Pembroke, and " in all 

 humbleness cast themselves at yr. Lops, feet unfeinedly desiring 

 yr. Lops, gracious acception of this their submission and supplica- 

 tion unto yr. good Lops, for the settling peace and future quiett 

 of that poore populous and allmost ruined towne." How peace 

 was finally made between the Corporation and the lord of the 

 manor seems to be indicated by a deed Avhich, according to the 

 Council minute book, was extant in the town chest in 1704. It is 

 called " a grant from the Eail of Pembroke of the fairs and 

 markets," and three years later it is again referred to as " the 

 ffreehold lease from the Lord Pembroke to the Corporation." If 

 this were in existence it would be possible to trace the final issue 

 of a long-protracted controversy. 



PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION. 

 I must not conclude without adding a few sentences on 

 Shaftesbury as a Parliamentary borough. The list of representa- 

 tives in Hutcldns (iii. 18, from Willis's Notitia Pari.) begins 25 

 Edward I., 1296-7, Avhen John Cockaine and Hugh Gappe 

 were returned to Parliament. From that day to the Reform Act 

 of 1832 Shaftesbury returned two members, at that date reduced 

 to one — that one member disappearing at the last Reform Bill. 

 The right of election was settled by resolution of the House of 

 Commons, 29 Feb., 1695-6, to reside in all the inhabitants 

 paying scot and lot, and not in the mayor and burgesses only. 

 There were then upwards of 300 electors. One of the most 

 remarkable members that Shaftesbury ever returned was John 

 Fry, a Dorset man of a family settled at Tarrant Gunville. He 

 was elected 1647-8 and became notorious on account of his 

 religious opinions, which were so disagreeable to the Common- 

 wealth Parliament that his books, called " The clergy in their 

 colours," and " The accuser shamed, or a pair of bellows to blow ofif 

 the dust casst upon John Fry," were, by order of the House, burnt 



