Before the death of George the First, he was custos rotulorum of the county of Kent, steward of the household, and one of the justices during the King's pleasure.

At the coronation of George the Second he was high steward of England, and he carried Saint Edward's crown in the procession at that solemn ceremony.

He resigned his office as steward of the household, for the viceroyship of Ireland, and he was received at Dublin with loud acclamations of the people.

He seemed always to have continued a favourite, and to have bar. tered for posts of honour and profit at his pleasure; but in the seventy, ninth year of his age, in the year 1765, he was compelled to lay down every thing; for he then died, and was buried at Withiam. Queen Anne; George the First, 1714; George the Second, 1728, and 1757.

134. James, the second Duke of Ormond, was attainted by parliament, and his estates were seized by the crown. He went to France in the year 1718, where he died. His brother procured an act of parliament to purchase his forfeited lands.

George the Third.

135. Robert, Lord D'Arcy, the fourth Earl of Holderness, between the years 1740, and 1745, was appointed lord lieutenant of the north riding of Yorkshire, and one of the lords of the bedchamber; and he was in the army with the King at the battle of Dettingen.

His lordship was afterwards sent ambassador to Venice, and plenipotentiary to the Hague; and when the Duke of Newcastle resigned the seals, he was appointed for the northern department. He departed this life in May, 1778. 5 George 3, October, 1765.

136. Frederick, Lord North, afterwards Earl of Guilford, was representative in parliament for Banbury four times; and, in the year 1759, he was declared one of the commissioners of the treasury. For

tune poured down several of her gifts into his cup; for he was appointed a joint receiver and paymaster of the forces, was sworn of the privy council, and made chancellor of the exchequer, first commisioner and lord of the treasury, ranger and warden of Bushy park, and he was unanimously elected chancellor of the University of Oxford.

At a chapter of the Garter, his lordship was installed one of the knights; and he was commonly appealed to in the house of commons, by the title of the noble lord in the blue ribbon. In his situation as chancellor of the exchequer, he suffered many disappointments, in finding his endeavours to subjugate America all frustrated. It might have been happy for this nation, if his successors had learned, from his miscarriages, not to have refused advantageous terms when offered them; but courtiers too often neglect the lessons of sound wisdom to be gathered from past errors, and they wait until necessity points out the impracticability of pursuing their follies any further. 18 Geo. 3.

137. William Pitt, was the youngest son of the great Earl of Chatham. For nearly half his life he was the prime minister of this country. The occurrences which happened during his administration are well known; and there is no doubt but some future historian, in recording the transactions of his ministry, will do him ample justice.

138. Lord Hawkesbury, now Earl of Liverpool, first lord commissioner of the treasury, commissioner for the affairs of India, a governor of the Charter House, and the present Constable of Dover Castle, and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.

The copies of the Customals of Dover, Sandwich, Romney, Rye, and Winchelsea, are all that are known to have been preserved to our own time.

It is generally believed, that the Customal of Hastings was destroyed during the last century; after it was determined, by the court of King's Bench, to be good evidence for obtaining the freedom of the town.*

The Customal of Hithe has probably perished in the custody of those who ought to have carefully preserved it.

Roger Mortimer, Constable of Dover Castle, in the reign of Edward the Third, ordered each of the Mayors of the Cinque Ports, and their two ancient Towns, to deliver into his Castle, at Dover, copies of all their ancient Customs and Usages, which they had enjoyed from their first enfranchisement; that in case of any appeal to him for erroneous judgment, in any of the Mayors' Courts, he, as Judge of his Court at Shepway, might have a guide to regulate his own decisions.

It was a rule with the Barons of the Cinque Ports, that their ancient Customs were not to give place to new Statutes, nor new Laws; and as their Customals were once considered by them of so much importance, they are now, for the first time, made public. The same orthography is generally preserved as in the documents from whence these copies were taken.

I shall leave it to the lawyers to determine, how far the innovations, and the encroachments of individuals, in exempt jurisdictions, pretending to act under a prescription, will supercede the common law of the land.

See Strange's Reports, 1070.

OF THE

TOWN AND PORT OF DOVER,

AS HEREAFTER SHEWETH.

The Usages of the Town and Port of Dover, which they claim, by Prescription, Time out of Mind.

1. Chusing of Mayor.

They use and claim of prescription, and of old time used to chuse the mayor every year, on the feast of the Nativity of Our Lady; and then the common horn shall be sounded, in fourteen diverse places in the town, for the common assembly, in the church of Saint Peter; and that there shall be brought the common box, the seal, and other muniments.

2. The Mayor's Oath.

And the mayor that was, as soon as he hath resigned his office, shall charge the next mayor when he is chosen; and his charge shall be, That he shall be true and lawful to the King of England, and to his heirs, and rightfully shall maintain the franchises and liberties of the town, and rich and poor may right. So God him help, and all holy saints; and so he kiss the book. The jurats shall swear the same oath.

3. No Jurat to be put in Election.

And if the mayor chosen be not present, the old may not be discharged. And if the mayor so chosen be not there to take the charge, the mayor that was shall not be discharged, till the new mayor be charged; and it is to be understood, that there shall be no jurat in

the election.