A HISTORY OF DORSET 



The only thing was that aliens had to bring some recommendation with them, 

 and the usual custom was a letter from the bailiffs and commonalty of the old 

 town to those of the new. Thus a letter from Sherborne to the mayor and 

 bailiffs of Bridport declares ' that Henry the Brewer bearer of these letters 

 is a lawful man and of good fame for so long a time as he has been conversant 

 and dwelling in our parts of Shirburne.' "' But a community did more than 

 this for its emigrant burgesses ; it vigorously took up the cudgels on their 

 behalf if they were 'falsely defamed' in 'foreign parts.' A letter from the 

 bailiffs and community of Dorchester put somewhat forcibly to the com- 

 monalty of Bridport that ' they had heard that a certain devilish spirit had 

 falsely defamed one of our nation, and wrongly, that is to say Pires Cokeraul,' 

 ' that he had been indicted in the vill of Dorcestre for divers things.' They 

 write to certify that he is ' good and lawful and that no default has been 

 found in him for falsity, and at the writers' peril they are requested to hold 

 him as such.' ^*° But if letters could protect they could also pursue a delin- 

 quent from one town to another. The bailiffs and community of Dorchester 

 proceeded to state ' that neither John the Taylor of Wynterborne nor his 

 wife was ever held as good or lawful in their company ; nor yet Adam (the 

 Fiddler ?) nor his wife.' ' And for this we are glad at their departing out of 

 our franchise ; and we pray that you will hold them such in your parts as we 

 hold them in our parts.' ^" In some cases a new freeman would rely upon 

 his position as holding a tenement or receiving a fixed annual income to 

 secure the goodwill of the borough. In Wareham a certain standard of 

 wealth, and that a low one, was considered sufficient. A ' constitution ' 

 declared that no inhabitant should take any stranger into the borough ' to 

 dwell and inhabit, but shall first give sufficient surety to the mayor for 

 the discharge of the town or parish wherein they shall soe be taken to 

 dwell.' '*' Probably it was under the circumstances of his entry being less 

 public that the mayor stood surety for a new burgess in deeds of sale by affix- 

 ing his official seal. Whether this was the case or not, at least the frequency 

 of these official signatures proves the comparative fluidity of the burgess 

 population between the Dorset towns.^*' The position of the mayor, with its 

 immense powers, military, judicial, and financial, was not always desirable. 

 Responsibility for the fee-farm was no light matter with the frequent risk of 

 the town being devastated by fire or pestilence ; also the continual expense of 

 the entertainment of great officials could become a burden. This was so much 

 the view of the burgesses of Shaftesbury that a penalty oi £io followed the 

 refusal to be mayor ; at the same time the stipulation that no burgess could 

 be compelled to undertake the office a second time within three years of the 

 expiration of his former term saved the individual from ruin.^" Possibly it 

 was partly for the benefit of the town treasury, as well as for the protection 

 of the consumer, that trade was regulated in the towns. Markets and fairs, 

 with the court of piepowder, were lucrative possessions ; presentations for 

 brewing contrary to the assize, selling ale in cups or other false measures, 

 and tapping without due supervision, were among the most common of the 



'" Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi, App. 489. "» Ibid. "' Ibid. 



'" Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset, i, 125. 



'" Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. vi (Bridport) ; ibid, v (Weymouth and Melcombe Regis) ; also Mayo, Ret. 

 »f Shaftesbury, 35. 



'" C. H. Mayo, Rec. of Shaftesbury, 7. 



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