the utmost Punctuality and Decorum
for upwards of Thirty Years.
He died 15th December, 1793."
F. B. Relton.
Gentlemen Pensioners.—
"On Saturday last, the Secretary to the Band of Gentleman Pensioners did, by order of the Duke of Montague their Captain, dispatch circular letters to the said gentlemen, signifying his Grace's pleasure to revive the ancient rules and orders that were practised at the time of the first institution of the Band in the reign of King Henry VII., viz. that five of the said Gentleman Pensioners shall attend constantly every day in the antechamber of the palace where His Majesty shall be resident, from ten in the forenoon till three in the afternoon, the usual time of His Majesty's retiring to go to dinner; and on every Drawing Room night from eight to twelve."—Weekly Journal, Jan. 4, 1735.
E.
Marlborough; Curious Case of Municipal Opposition to County Magistracy.—Shortly after the invasion of the elder Pretender, the corporation of Marlborough so far defied the royal authority as to drive the quarterly county sessions from the town; and high legal opinions were not wanting to fortify the position thus assumed by the borough, on the ground, namely, of its municipal charter, which secured to the town a court of its own.
Now, we all know that in early times a borough's court-leet exempted the burgesses from the jurisdiction of the sheriff's "tourn," and that up till the period of the Municipal Reform bill, many charters still existed, verbally sustaining such right of exemption; but the Queries which I wish to put are the following. First, Though the crown's representative had no jurisdiction, had he not a right to enter, and sit on cases foreign to the borough? Secondly, What are the earliest instances of county quarter sessions sitting in independent boroughs? Thirdly, Were the cases numerous of similar acts of resistance at the period alluded to, viz. the reign of George I.?
I take this occasion to state that I am drawing to conclusion a history of Silkely Hundred, which includes Marlborough and Lord Ailesbury's seat; and shall feel grateful for any information relating to the Pretender's influence in that district. That it must have been considerable may be argued from the Ailesbury alliance by marriage with the young Pretender.