216 NOR T H A M P T O N. 
king John, they were exempted from all “toll, laftage, 
and murage; alfo from being impleaded out of the town;” 
and were inverted with other liberties in as ample a man¬ 
ner as the citizens of London. For thefe privileges they 
were bound to pay annually into the king’s exchequer 120I. 
In the 41ft year of Henry III. a new charter was obtained, 
confirming and extending the liberties, See. of the bur- 
gefies. Again in the 27th of Edward I. and in the 4th of 
Henry VII. the charter was renewed and confirmed ; and 
in the 9th year of the latter reign, the mayor, bailiffs, &c. 
obtained the liberty of choofing a recorder, and appoint¬ 
ing two burgeffes, who, with the mayor, were inverted 
with the powers of juftices of peace within the town. By 
a charter bearing date the 3d of Auguft, 15 Charles II. the 
corporation is fpecified to confift of a mayor and two bai¬ 
liffs, and fuch as have been mayors and bailiffs, with 48 
burgeffes called common-council, recorder, chamberlain, 
and town-clerk. Though this charter was furrendered in 
1683, and a new one iffued, yet the former continued in force 
till 1796, when an altered, or, as it is commonly called, a 
new charter, v.'as obtained. The recorder and town-clerk 
nfually continue for life, though fubjeft to annual elec¬ 
tion. This corporation is inverted with extenfive judicial 
powers; being qualified to try all criminal caufes, though 
they fieldom extend their jurifdiCtion beyond petty lar¬ 
cenies ; and for this purpofe they hold a court of record 
once in every three weeks. As a borough, Northampton 
has continued to return two members to the Britifh fenate 
ever fince the 12th of Edward I. when it fent two repre- 
fentatives to the parliament held at ACton-Burnel in 
Oloucefterfhire. In the firft year of Edward II. the par¬ 
liament was held at Northampton ; and John de Longue- 
ville, and Robert de Bedford, were members for this 
place. Few' boroughs have been more noted in the annals 
of contefted elections than Northampton, as it is com¬ 
monly confidered an open borough ; i. e. every inhabitant 
lioufeholder, paying fcot and lot, and not receiving alms, 
has the liberty of voting. This Mr. Pennant calls “ a 
cruel privilege for fuch who have, of late years, been am¬ 
bitious of recommending their reprefentatives.” If cruel 
to the ambitious, it is certainly important to the humble 
part of the public ; for, though corruption, intrigue, and 
bribery, may feduce a Jew, thefe are not fo likely to ope¬ 
rate on the many. The number of voters is nearly 1300. 
A memorable eleCtion-conteft for this borough occurred 
in 1768, when the earls of Halifax, Northampton, and 
Spencer, were oppofed to each other; or rather each ex- 
.erted his refpeCtive influence to return a member; and 
never perhaps was bribery lb exteniively and lavifhly em¬ 
ployed. Sir George Ofborne, bart. was fupported by his 
uncle, thelateearl of Halifax; fir George Bridges Rodney, 
afterwards lord Rodney, by the late earl of Northampton, 
father of the prefent marquis ; and the Hon. Thomas 
Howe, brother of the admiral, afterwards earl Howe, 
fupported by the late earl Spencer. Sir George Ofborne 
and fir George Rodney were returned ; but, upon a pe¬ 
tition to the houf’e of commons, Howe and Rodney were 
declared duly eleCted ; apd Ofborne of courfe loft his feat. 
The eft’eCts of this ftruggle were of fuch a tendency to the 
parties embarked in it, as to caule the eftates of the earl 
of Halifax to be fold foon after his death for the benefit 
of his creditors; the earl of Northampton to live out of 
his native country ; and the fortune of earl Spencer to 
be confiderably hurt. The enormous expenfes with which 
this paroxyfm for power was accompanied, have fince per¬ 
mitted the’ independent party to expreife their right in the 
deCtion of one reprefentative. The independent member, 
as he is called, is fir Edw. Kerrifon, member in the laft 
parliament for Shrewfbury. The other is earl Compton, 
fon of the marquis of Northampton, who has all the cor¬ 
poration in his intereft, and is recorder of the town. A 
petition was thrown in againft the return, but it was not 
fuccefsful; (Apr. ?, 1819.) 
There were formerly feven parifli-churches within tlie 
walls pf Northampton; refpeCtively dedicated to All- 
Saints, St. Giles, St. Gregory, St. Mary, St. Michael, St. 
Peter, and St. Sepulchre. Befides thefe, there was St. 
Catharine’s, a chapel of eafe to All-Saints, in the town ; 
St. Edmund’s church, without the eaft gate, and St. Bar¬ 
tholomew’s, without the north gate. Of thefe ftruCtures 
four only are remaining at prefent, into which number of 
pariflies the town is divided ; All-Saints, St. Giles’s, St. 
Peter’s, and St. Sepulchre’s. 
The church dedicated to All-Saints, fituated about the 
centre of the town, having been confumed by fire in 1675, 
was begun to be rebuilt foon afterwards, and was com¬ 
pleted in the year 1680; and the firft fermon was preached 
by the bifhop of Peterborough, Sept. 5, 1680. The inte¬ 
rior of this is very unlike the generality of churches. 
The windows and architectural ornaments are neither 
Gothic, Grecian, nor of any regular order or ftyle. It 
confifts of one large room or fpace, with a fquare chancel 
at the eaft end, and a tower at the weft end ; near the 
centre are four large columns fupporting a flat roof, from 
which rifes a dome or cupola. Attached to the weft end 
of the church is a tablet recording the name of John 
Bailes, who was born in this town, and lived to a very 
advanced age; retaining his faculties of “ hearing, fight, 
and memory, to the laft. He lived in three centuries, 
and was buried the 14th of April, 1706.” Bridges ob- 
ferves, that “ his age appears to have been affigned con- 
jeCtu rally to 126 ; he was at moft but 114 years old.” His 
daughter, Catharine Bailes, died in this town, at the age 
of 102, in the year 1732. In this church alfo is the mu¬ 
ral monument of fir James Stonehoufe, bart. a benevolent 
phyfician, 1795; and in 1817 was ereCted a ftatue by 
Chan trey of the Right. Hon. Spencer Perceval, who had 
reprefented this borough in parliament from the com¬ 
mencement to the lamented clofe of his political career. 
St. Giles’s church is fituated near the eaftern end of the 
town, immediately within the ancient town-wall. This 
is a large pile of building, and confifts of a nave, aides, 
tranfept, and tower riling from the centre. At the weft 
end is an ancient door-way, with a femicircular arch, and 
Norman mouldings. 
St. Peter’s church is feated at the weftern extremity of 
the town, in-the vicinity of the caltle; and was probably 
ereCted by one of the firft Norman earls of Northampton. 
From the regifter of St. Andrew’s priory in this town, it 
appears that the rectory of St. Peter’s was given to that 
monaftery by Simon de St. Liz, and was confirmed t.o it 
with the chapelries of Kings Thorpe and Upton, by Hugh 
Wells, bifhop of Lincoln. The architecture of this 
church is curious and interefting. In fome particulars it 
may indeed be confidered an unique edifice. It confifts 
of a nave and two aifles of equal length, having feven 
columns on each fide, three of which are coinpofed of 
four femi-columns. The four fingle fliafts are ornamented 
with ftone bands, of four mouldings near the centre; but 
the cluftered columns, which feemed more to require this 
appearance of binding, have no fuch appendage. AlLth.e 
capitals are charged with fculpture of fhell-work, heads, 
animals, See. Thefe capitals have lately been cleaned, 
and the rich and curious fculpture with which they are 
charged is fully difplayed. This arduous and laudable 
talk was performed by Mifs A. Baker of Northampton. 
O11 each fide of the nave are eight femicircular arches, with 
indented zigzag mouldings on the face and foffits. Over 
thefe was a feries of fix fmall windows, with femicircular 
heads, on each fide. But the moft decorated and curious 
part of the interior of this Angular ftruCture, is the great 
archway, beneath the tower, at the weftern end of the 
nave. This confifts of threereceding arches, each charged, 
both in elevation and fofiit, with zigzag mouldings. On 
each fide of the archway are three pilafter-columns, fome 
of which are ornamented with fpiral and lozenge mould¬ 
ings. The exterior of the church and tower is equally 
curious, though the architectural and fculptural decora¬ 
tions are not lo profufe or elaborate. At the fouth-weft 
and north-weft angles of the tower are buttrelfesof pecu- 
