Page:The histories of Launceston and Dunheved, in the county of Cornwall.djvu/426

386 DUNHEVED. The privilege of being represented in the early parlia- ments was not an unmixed good. The dignity was expensive. The burgesses were obliged to find two persons of leisure, or ambition, who were willing to ride to Westminster or York, to Carlisle or Northampton, to Salisbury or Winchester, or wherever else it might please the court to appoint, and then to bear the cost attending the troublesome journey. We have given some instances of the "earnest money" paid to burgesses on their con- tracting to undertake the important service, and others of a reward for performing its duties. We shall presently show that Dunheved borough was sometimes ordered to pay its members compensation at a fixed daily rate. The primitive parliaments seem to have lasted only for short periods. When the immediate objects of the con- vention were accomplished, the members returned to their homes, and the county or borough awaited its next summons. Under orders of the House of Commons, dated 4th May, 1876, and 9th March, 1877, lists have been obtained of the names and titles of nearly all the members of the Lower House, and the date of each return, from the re- motest period. From these lists, and occasional local sources, we have compiled the following schedule. It may be mentioned that no return has been found for Cornwall, or any borough in it, prior to the year 1295 ; and very few returns have been discovered in respect of an earlier date of any county or place in the kingdom. Launceston [Dunheved] borough appears among the returns for 1295.