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life; and Richard, Duke of York, was constituted Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Earl of Chester, and Protector of England.

At this important debate John Halle was, there is no reason to doubt, present; but what part he took in it-history does not say.

Richard, Duke of York, was slain on the 30th of December following at the battle of Wakefield. A varying contest (unnecessary here to particularise) was carried on between the two Houses of York and Lancaster, which ended in the deposition of Henry, the Sixth, and the accession to the throne of Edward, Duke of York, on the 28th of February, 1461, who thus became Edward, the Fourth. The Parliament, to which John Halle was reelected for the second time, and which met in October, 1460, was, by the accession of the new King, dissolved in the following February, 1461.

For some time after his accession Edward was engaged in maintaining his seat on the throne, nominally against the weak-minded, and deposed, Henry, the Sixth, but rather against the determined, and intrepid, Queen Margaret. On May the 23d, 1461, he issued writs for summoning a Parliament to meet at Westminster on the 6th of July following. He availed himself of an interval of tranquillity for his coronation, which took place on the 26th of June; but the still unsettled state of the kingdom, and the apprehended invasion of the Scots (to whom Henry had fled) in the behalf of the deposed King, caused him to prorogue the meeting of the Par

liament from the 6th of July to the 4th of November following. So well satisfied were the citizens of Salisbury with their worthy Burgess, John Halle, that they again elected him to support their interests in the Senate for the third time. "So many of the nobility had fallen in battle, or died on the scaffold, or had been driven into exile, that there remained only one duke, four earls, one viscount, and twenty-nine barons, who were summoned to this parliament."* Very important affairs were submitted to its consideration, but which were settled without difficulty. The accession of Edward, the Fourth, was confirmed, all the previous Acts enacted against the House of York, and its adherents, were disannulled, and many other measures were declared for the purpose of effectually supplanting the interests of the House of Lancaster, and confirming those of the House of York. How long this Parliament sat, prior to its dissolution, I am not certain; but, I presume, not full two years, as it is recorded by Stow, that, on "the 29th of April," (1463,) "began a parliament at Westminster." That John Halle did his duty in the afore-mentioned first Parliament of Edward, the Fourth, we have no reason to doubt.

From an entry in the Leger of the Corporation it appears, that John Halle and his Colleague were paid, as wages for fifty-five days, at the rate of 12d. per day, being 27. 15s. to each—a sum of money, which, united, is now equal to that of 551.

I must here remark, that, as the Burgesses

* Henry's Hist. of Britain, Vol. ix. p. 180.

were, by law, entitled to the wages of 2s. per day, John Halle and his Colleague proved their generous feelings towards the City by the remittance of one half of the slender remuneration, to which they were entitled for their services, and the many, and great, inconveniences, which they suffered from the perils of the ways -the harassing fatigues of legislation, and—the temporary banishment from those, who were most dear to them.

I cannot find, that John Halle was for any future parliament re-elected by his fellow-citizens to serve them as their Burgess; but, gentle reader, rest assured, that this was not from reluctance on their part, but that he declined the willingly-proffered honour. He had already served them faithfully in three successive parliaments to his great inconvenience from bodily fatigue-from the necessary neglect of his extensive mercantile concerns, and-from the deprivation of the solace, and company, of his beloved family-moreover, he now began to wax in years, and was unequal to the wonted exertions of his younger days. Well sanctioned, therefore, was John Halle in retiring from the representation, as a Burgess, of the fair Citie of Salisburie; but retire he did, as we may well believe, with the regret, and esteem, of all his fellow-citizens.

The esteem, which I have assigned to John Halle, there is no doubt, was his real desert; and, that it did not forsake him, we have now an unequivocal proof, since in the 4th year of Edward, the Fourth, 1464, he was, for the third time, elected Mayor of the gallante Citie of Salisburie,

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an honour unsought by him, but a grateful boon from his loving friends, and neighbours-an undeniable testimony of confidence, and esteem, alike honourable to him, and to them.

There now arose circumstances of great interest, and eventful to all parties concerned; and, believe me, gentle reader-whoever thou art-the following recital will not be ungratifying to you.

During the mayoralty of John Halle for the previously-mentioned year of 1464 violent disputes arose between the City and the Bishop of that era, who was Richard Beauchamp. By the charter of Henry, the Third, the manorial rights, in, and over, the City of New Sarum, were granted to the Bishop (and his successors) to as full an extent, as his predecessors enjoyed heretofore in, and over, the ancient City. Though the Mayor and Corporation of the City did enjoy certain immunities, yet the episcopal yoke fretted them-they did not relish the imperium in imperio-they often took occasion to exhibit these feelings; and, in the time of Bishop Simon de Gandavo, instigated, in the year 1315, by the pressure of either real or imaginary grievances, they appealed to the King, and sought permission to renounce those privileges, which they enjoyed under the protection of the Bishop as their manorial lord-to be allowed to go forth from the genial warmth of his fostering wing, and-in short, that their City should be freed from the temporal jurisdiction of the Bishop. The Crown, willing, I presume, to convince these contumacious Citizens (and, in them, to convince others) of the folly of endeavouring to

throw off the feudal yoke, (for which the age was not yet ripe,) yielded to their prayer; and, probably, joined its influence to that of the Bishop in frustrating the success of restless ambition. The trade of Salisbury declined, and the Citizens petitioned to be allowed to resume the salutary yoke. In their own language they admitted, that, "from being members of a city, to which it had been glorious to pertain, they were become a derision to the people, and their daily song." Yet, however, a yoke is a yoke, whether its pressure be soft as that of silk, or galling as that of iron; and the turbulent mind is as uneasy under the one as the other-is ill-disposed to yield even to the imaginary weight of superior authority.

The Citizens of Salisbury were, there can be no doubt, during the dark middle-ages, eager to avail themselves of any opportunity to assert independence even at the expense of the rights of the Bishop as their feudal lord.

Such an occasion now presented itself in the days of John Halle. Near the Church of St. Thomas, and Godmanstone Chantry, (pertaining to that Church,) was a piece of land, small in itself, but of importance sufficient to raise mighty feuds. I regret, that I cannot decidedly point out this piece of ground; but I strongly conjecture, that it was the area on the north side of the Church; and, that the Chantry of Robert Godmanstone was that space of the north aisle, included between the chancel and the present

*The family of Godmanstone, probably, originated from Godmanstone, in Dorsetshire.-E. D.

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