328 TRANSACTIONS OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
I have heard from an old gentleman who lived in Plymouth 
when a boy, and was a member of one of its principal families, 
that before the reformed corporation it was well known that if 
any tradesman came into collision with the ruling powers he might 
as well remove at once, as they would make it too warm for him 
to live in the town. It is one of the pleasures attending the in- 
vestigation of the affairs of olden times to be able to discern 
where and to what extent we have in our day improved in liberty 
of opinion and action. I am inclined to ascribe most of this 
advance to the influence of our free Press. 
Sir Peter had one other litigation, which cost him £3000, and 
which was also brought about by the action of the Corporation. 
In 1688 Sir Peter took violent measures for obtaining money 
from the Crown for repairing Pendennis Castle, which was leased 
by him to the Government. 
Amongst the Treasury papers is the copy of a paper from Mr. 
Kent, collector of the port of Penryn (dated 1688), concerning 
£201 taken from him by Sir Peter Killigrew, who came with an 
armed force to his house after ten at night, saying the king was 
his tenant, and Pendennis Castle wanted repairing, and with the 
money he would repair it ; and the document also refers to the 
collector's arrest and confinement in the castle. This was a hard 
measure even for that period, but the family manuscript does 
not refer to it at all. It would seem from this fact that 
Sir Peter was rather overbearing, and I have the lease of a 
property at Falmouth granted and signed by Sir Peter's great 
granddaughter, the Hon. Frances Berkeley, to the Mr. Snoxell 
before referred to in 1761, by which it would appear that the 
customs of the manor were particularly irksome ; for the tenant 
had not only to act as reeve, but to grind his corn at the manor 
mill, and to pay to the manor market toll on all grain purchased 
by him, and to provide a capon at Christmas, and to pay an extra 
rental of £5 per annum should he ever become mayor, alderman, 
or burgess of Falmouth, or even if he ever let the property to any 
such. The clauses as to loss of possession in case of disrepair 
appear to be exceedingly stringent. If such things were demanded 
as late as 1761, one can understand the last Sir Peter having 
sufficient causes for dispute with the Corporation of Falmouth, or 
vice versa. 
Sir Peter, the last male of his race in the main line, died 
