MINING IN THE CHAP. X, 



history, that the owner of the land on which 

 mines were discovered had a right to any por- 

 tion of the mineral products before the fifth year 

 of Henry sixth, (1426). At that date the Duke 

 of Bedford, then regent of France, received a 

 lease for ten years of all the mines of gold and 

 silver in the kingdom of England, on condition 

 of paying one-tenth to holy church, a fifteenth 

 to the king, and a twentieth to the lord of the 

 soil. 



When Henry had arrived at maturity he con- 

 tinued mineral grants to several of his nobles ; 

 among others to the Earls of Warwick and 

 Northumberland, and to his brother Richard, 

 Earl of Gloster; but in these the terms were 

 varied. They were to pay to the king one- 

 eighth of the profit, to the lord of the soil one- 

 ninth, and to the parish priest one-tenth. 



Henry the Seventh, at the commencement of 

 his reign, appointed Jasper, Duke of Bedford, 

 and several other persons of high rank, go- 

 vernors of all the mines in England and Wales; 

 paying to the king the fifteenth part ofthepure 

 gold and silver, and to the lord of the soil the 

 eleventh part as it grows ; meaning probably 

 that portion of the crude ore. 



In the early part of the reign of Elizabeth, 

 attention to mining was greatly revived. A 

 corporation was formed bearing the title of the 

 mines royal society. The first governor was 



