[841] The Charter here alluded to, (being the 2nd. and last of those obtained from Charles II,) contains the following clause—
“PROVIDED always, and full power and authority to Us our Heirs and Successors by these Presents we resume, and from time to time and at all times hereafter the Steward, Mayor, Recorder, Town-clerk, and all or any of the Justices of the Peace, or of the Aldermen, or of the Common-Councell, or of the Coroners of the Burgh aforesaid, or of other officers, members, or ministers of the same Burgh for the time being, at the will and pleasure of Us, or of our Heirs and Successors, by any of our order or any order of our Heirs and Successors in Privy Councell made and under the Seal of them signified respectively to remove, or to declare to be removed, and as often as We and our Heirs and Successors by any such our order made in Privy Councell declare the same Steward, Mayor, Recorder, Town-clerk, and all or any of the Justices of the Peace, of the Aldermen, and of the Common-Councell, or of the Coroners of the said Burgh for the time being, or of the other Officers, members, ministers, to be removed from their respective offices aforesaid, That then from thenceforth the Steward, Mayor, &c. &c. of the same Burgh for the time being so removed or declared to be removed from their several and respective offices, Ipso Facto and without any further process, really and to all intents and purposes whatsoever, are and shall be removed, and this as often as the case shall so happen, any thing to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding.”
This sufficiently shews how completely in the king’s power this memorable Charter placed our corporation, so as to be no longer any better than mere and miserable tools and vassals of the court.
[843] The oaths being dispensed with seems to imply that some of them were catholics, or that way inclined. Their places and new honours, however, they did not long retain; for about a fortnight before the arrival of the prince of Orange they were all in their turn displaced, and the old ones were restored: only Mr. Cyprian Anderson was readmitted and chosen mayor. Of this event one of our old MS. histories gives the following account—
“On the 20th of October John Davy was displaced and Cyprian Anderson was chosen mayor, by reason of the king’s proclamation for restoring Corporations to their ancient rights and priviledges; at which time all those members that came in with the New Charter, or by Mandamus, were displaced, and the old ones put in again: at which sudden alterations all expressed great satisfaction, appearing by the people ringing of bells and firing of guns: and on the 22nd. Mr mayor bringing home the mayoress out of the country was met with near a hundred horsemen and received with firing of guns and ringing of bells, and all sorts of people striving to exceed in their acclamations of joy.”
Thus it appears that even Lynn, at last, came to partake in some degree of the then prevailing national aversion to the system or measures of the court.
[845a] They were again brought back and restored to their former places at the end of about eleven months; for it is noted in the Town Books, under the date of Sept. 27 1689. “The Gunns, &c. were returned from Hull.”
[845b] That nobleman, if the author is not mistaken, was the last protestant duke of Norfolk before the present. He was very active after the arrival of the prince of Orange in promoting the cause of the revolution in this county, and nowhere perhaps more so than he was in this town. For we find that he came here himself on that occasion, assembled the inhabitants and harangued them, in the market-place and elsewhere, so successfully, that he seemed to have brought them over altogether to his own way of thinking before he left the town. It is therefore probable that the change which then took place in the politicks of Lynn was in no small measure owing to his exertions. A remarkable anecdote concerning him used to be related by some ancient people at Norwich 30 or 40 years ago, the substance of which was to the following purport.—
“The duke, in the summer and autumn of 1688 was suspected by James and his ministers to be inimical to their proceedings, and was therefore narrowly watched by their emissaries, of which he himself was not unconscious. He resided then chiefly at his palace in Norwich, where his evenings were generally spent with large parties of the principal inhabitants of the city and its vicinity, which consisted not merely of protestants, but also of catholics, who would not be likely to connive at, or conceal any symptoms of dissaffection or disloyalty which they might discover in his conduct. Some correspondence was said to have been carried on between him and the prince of Orange; but on some very particular occasion, not specified by the narrators of the anecdote, he wished for a personal interview with the prince. This would be a hazardous undertaking, as he was then circumstanced; yet he resolved to make the attempt. It was now about Michaelmas, or later, when the prince had collected his forces, had arranged the plan of his expedition to this country, and was preparing to embark. The Duke procured a small fast sailing vessel with all possible secrecy, which was to wait for him, at a given time, somewhere on the Norfolk coast. The very day previous to his intended embarkation, he invited a large party of his accustomed guests to spend the evening with him at Norwich, and they staid there till a late hour. As soon as they were gone, he and a trusty servant mounted their horses and rode towards the sea-coast. Not far from the spot where the vessel lay, there was a farm-house occupied by one of his tenants. When they came nigh to that house he alighted, bid his servant take the horses to the farm house and stay there till he should come to him, as he had some business to transact in the neighbourhood, and would join him as soon as possible. He then walked towards the vessel and got aboard. The wind then proving fair, he was in a few hours conveyed to the Dutch coast, nigh to the place where the prince lay encamped. He went ashore without loss of time, walked towards the tent or head quarters of the prince. But as he was going along he overheard an English soldier say to his comrade, ‘There goes the Duke of Norfolk.’ Alarmed at finding he was discovered, he walked on, apparently unconcerned; but before he got to the Head Quarters he turned aside, returned another way to the vessel, went aboard again, and immediately set sail for England. The wind now proving fair, as before, he actually reached the Norfolk coast before night, near the selfsame spot where he had before embarked. He then walked to the farm-house, remounted his horse and arrived at Norwich early in the evening. He then sent for the same party that had been the preceding evening with him, who spent that evening there as they had done the former, no one having the least idea of his extraordinary adventure. This proved a wise precaution; for the soldier’s report having reached the ears of James’s emissaries in Holland, intelligence of it was immediately conveyed to the English court, when a messenger was forthwith dispatched to Norwich to arrest the Duke. His Grace, in order to discredit, or refute the report, appealed to the parties or guests above mentioned, many of whom were catholicks, who affirmed that he was at home at his own house in Norwich the evening immediately preceding and that immediately succeeding the day in which he was said to have been seen in Holland. This attestation was deemed a sufficient proof of an alibi, and it delivered the Duke from the danger which threatened him.”
This anecdote was related to the present writer above 30 years ago, at Norwich, by a Mr. Cubitt, a very intelligent and respectable old gentleman, who appeared to give it full credit, which he was not likely to have done on any slight ground, or without very good reason.