56 RECORDS OF OLD TIMES 



CHAPTER VII 



Parliamentary elections — Origin of the representation of the people — 

 Alfred the Great and the Witanagemot — Ancient franchises — The 

 Potwaller — Borough of Aylesbury — Addition of 'The Hundreds' — - 

 John Webb, ninety-six years old, the last of the Potwallers — 

 Customs at the nomination — Dinners — Conveyances — Duration of 

 polling period — A candidate's ' little bill ' — The poll — The voters' 

 dinners : daily bill of fare — General Election of 1784 — Curious 

 incident^ — The great Aylesbury case, Ashby v. White — Its effect. 



Amongst the events which affect the Imperial 

 interest of the kingdom, none have a greater in- 

 fluence than the election of members of the House 

 of Commons. The history of the representation of 

 the people has been often recorded, and various 

 accounts have been given of the practice of Parlia- 

 mentary elections. Most writers have held, and I 

 think with great reason, that the first notice of a 

 real Parliament, that is to say, of the expression of 

 the wishes of the people, was in the Saxon ' Wita- 

 nagemot,' which undoubtedly existed, and was 

 consolidated by Alfred the Great ; but it was not 

 till some centuries afterwards that the election for 

 the assembly was put on a legal footing. Lord 

 Beaconsfield once said to me in a conversation I 

 had with him, that the earliest recorded parliaments 

 were almost entirely chosen by the universal 

 suffrage of the resident people. I concurred in his 

 lordship's opinion, because it was within my own 

 knowledge that, in many boroughs, the old franchise 



