THE MAYORALTY OF TRURO. 235 



induce compel and l)ving- tlie said Mr. Pawley to a full and pfect 

 acct. touching'e and concerninge the p'niisses Matters and tilings 

 aforesd." 



The records of mayoral elections from 9th October, 1712, 

 to 9th October, 1722, are missing; inconsequence, it is supposed, 

 of the violent struggle for supremacy in municipal and parlia- 

 mentary affairs between the Hoscaweas and the Vincents, one en- 

 otlier of tlie rival parties having perhaps destroyed them. Jolin 

 Prowse, "the good niayor,""^' whose portrait hangs in the council 

 chamber at Truro, Avas certainly in office in 1712. He was 

 re-elected on 9th October of that year, and his signature as mayor 

 is appended to the elections 9th October, 1722. It is therefore 

 probable, as Polwhele conjectures, that he continued to act as 

 mayor throughout the whole of that stirring time. An account 

 of the mayoral contest in 1712 is preserved in the ]\IS8. of the 

 duke of Portland at Welbeck Abbey. f It gains in piquancy, if 

 not in accuracy, through being the version of the affair given by 

 the Vincent faction, and as it presents a graphic picture of the 

 state of municipal affairs in the borough at that time, I quote it 

 in full. Writing to the earl of Oxford on 30th September, 1712, 

 Lord Lansdowne says : " Mr. Vincent and his son are going post 

 to-morrow for Cornwall, to be present at the election of a mayor 

 for the town of Truro, where we are in danger, or rather, under 

 a certainty of losing both members at the next choice for a 

 parliament, unless your Lordship is pleased to give your 

 assistance. I have appropriated every penny of my own rents in 

 that country for services of this kind, being attacked in every 

 corporation. It is not to be imagined what efforts have been 

 made, and what money has been lavished upon this occasion. 

 The contention and expense is greater than ever was known 

 upon the choice of a Parliament, so much the enemies of the 

 Government have thought it necessary to be beforehand with us 

 in securing the returning officers. The result, therefore, of my 

 conversation with these two gentlemen, who are entirely devoted 

 to your interest is that I should in this manner acquaint you with 

 the necessity of your help. The mayor must have a hundred 

 pounds, and one of the magistrates, whose debts Mr. B [oscawenj 



* Polwhele's " History of Cornwall." 



t Published in 1899 by the Historical MSS. Commissioners. 



