THE CHURCH OF ST. ANDREW, PLYMOUTH. 297 
buryalls there. The mayor and commonalty confess that they 
claim the same under the impropriator, and do employ the benefit 
thereof to and for the use of the church; and in regard thereof 
are at the charge of reparation of the said chancell, and if there be 
any surplus of benefit they employ it to the use of the church, 
upon which consideration their lordships think fitt that the said 
mayor and commonalty shall enjoy the same accordingly. And as 
concerning the seats in the chancel belonging to Mr. Hele and his 
wife, the same are to be restored to them, and another convenient 
seat to be erected in the chancel for the vicar at the charge of the 
parish, and the vicar’s wife is to be seated in the seat next to the 
mayor’s wife, being the ancient seat appertaining to the wife of the 
vicar of that church.” 
The governor of the town and his lady always had a seat in a 
prominent part of the Church, and we often find the cushions 
belonging to it referred to in the inventories. In 1689, with a 
black velvet cushion with gold and silver fringe for the mayor, are 
also mentioned two flowered silk cushions and one black plush 
cushion with gold and silver fringe for the governor and his lady, 
and these were in the custody of the churchwardens until they 
seem quietly to have appropriated them for the use of the Church, 
and turned them into those monstrosities—cushions for the altar. 
In 1835 the churchwardens thought the seat might be used by 
the parishioners, and a letter was written by them to the then 
governor, Lord Hill, informing him that it was intended, in conse- 
quence of the great demand for sittings, to appropriate the seat 
hitherto set aside for the governor of the town, by courtesy, to 
parishioners. Lord Hill repliel that it was not his intention to 
give up the seat appropriated for upwards of two hundred years 
to the governor; and that he had instructed Major-General Sir 
Willoughby Cotton, then in garrison, not to relinquish the right to 
the seat; and following this letter was one from Sir Willoughby 
Cotton, informing the churchwardens that it was his intention to 
attend St. Andrew’s on the following Sunday morning, with the 
officers of the staff, and occupy the governor's seat. A conflict 
in the Church on a Sunday morning between the Major-General 
and his staff, and the churchwardens and their staff, was clearly 
a thing to be avoided, and an interview took place, at which 
it was arranged that the proposed military descent should be 
postponed until Lord Hill had been again communicated with. 
