Littlestead, the rent to be distributed to the poor widows at Christmas by the churchwardens; and that Mr. Shaw left to the poor one acre in the common ings, and one close adjoining, called the Hagg.

By the award of the commissioners for the inclosure of open fields and commons in Cawood and Wistow, they awarded unto the churchwardens and overseers, and other trustees for the time being, for the poor of Wistow 2a. 2r. 37p. of land, part of Custom Hagg, and 2a. 2r. 37p. of land, parcel of the Common Ing; and they declared that the two allotments, containing together 5a. 1r. 34p., were in right of the said poor's original property in the fields and ings of Wistow, and included an equivalent for their right to the Hagg, in Littlestead, and that such allotments were copyhold within the Archbishop's manor, and should be held as such within the said manor.

The allotments are let by the churchwardens to Robert Storr, as yearly tenant, at £10 a year, which is the full annual value. The rents are added to and distributed among the poor with the money collected at the sacra

Mountain mentions a curious custom connected with York Lammas Fair. During the fair, he tells us, "from three o'clock on the 11th August till the same hour on the 13th, the sheriff's authority of arresting any person is suspended within the city and suburbs. The Archbishop's bailiff, or substitute, hath only the power of executing any Judicial process at that time. The Archbishop keeps a court, called a Pied-powder Court, at this fair, and the jury is empannelled out of Wistow, being within the Bishop's liberty, for determining all differences of such as complain unto them of matters happening within the said fair.” The Pied-powder or Pie-powder Court is an institution which has now fallen very much into disuse, if it is not even abolished. It is commonly said to derive its appella

* History of Selby and Cawood, p. 30.

tion from pied pouldreux, or dusty foot, either in allusion to the suitors who frequented it, or, as some say, because justice was as speedily done in this court as the dust could be shaken from the feet. Barrington, however, derives the name from the old French pied-pouldreaux, a pedlar, because the chapmen frequented these courts. The Piepowder Court is incidental to fairs and markets having two branches, the one held by the lord of the franchise or his steward, the other by the clerk of the market. In this court are settled all disputes respecting contracts made, and all suits for injuries and offences committed during the fair.

In 1697, a petition of the Mayor, Recorder, Aldermen, Common Council, Merchants, and other inhabitants of the town of Leeds, was presented to Parliament, praying leave to bring in a bill for making the rivers Aire and Calder navigable from the Ouse to the towns of Leeds and Wakefield. This was the origin of the now celebrated Aire and Calder Company, and their bill was read for the first time on the 1st of February, 1698. They were opposed, however, by the inhabitants of York and Cawood, but their opposition was of the most contemptible character. The masters of ships, and seamen, belonging to the ancient city of York sent up a counter-petition setting forth the statement that if such an undertaking were carried out the trade of the good city of York would inevitably be ruined. The ship-carpenters of the town of Cawood also presented to the House a similar petition, in which it was stated that if the rivers were made navigable, such an act would not only ruin the river and trade of the Ouse, but so drain the small rivers thereabouts that the petitioners could not get timber down by water to carry on their said trades. This utterly miserable pretext was of no avail; the petitions of the carpenters of Cawood and bargemen of York failed in accomplishing their unworthy object, and power was given to an enterprising society whose labours have produced the most gigantic results.

CAWOOD INCLOSURE.

D

SN the 17th February, 1775, a petition was presented to the House of Commons by the several persons whose names are thereunto subscribed, on behalf of themselves and others, owners and proprietors of messuages, cottages, lands, and tenements, within the several manors and parishes of Cawood and Wistow, in the county of York. The petition set forth that there are, within the said manors, several woods and marsh grounds, ings, carrs, commons, and other waste grounds, containing by estimation 2,000 acres, and some open field lands containing 20 acres, more or less; and that the petitioners apprehend it would be also of great utility if the said wood and marsh grounds, ings, &c., were enclosed, and specific allotments made thereof to the respective proprietors, according to their respective rights and interests therein; and therefore praying that leave may be given to bring in a bill for dividing and enclosing the said several ings, commons, marsh grounds, &c., within the several manor and parishes of Cawood and Wistow aforesaid, and for making adequate satisfaction or equivalents in lieu of tythes, as shall be expressed in the said bill, and for other purposes to be therein contained, in such manner as to the House shall seem meet. Mr. Turner and Lord John Cavendish were then ordered to bring in a bill pursuant to the prayer of the petitioners.

On the 9th February, 1776, another petition was presented to the House, when it was ordered that Sir George

Savile and Mr. Lascelles do prepare and bring in the same. On the 1st April, Sir George presented the bill, which was there read for the first time, when it was resolved that it should be read a second time. The second reading took place on the 18th of April, when it was committed to Sir George Savile and Sir Cecil Wray, who were to meet that afternoon in the Speaker's Chamber.

On the 1st May, Sir George Savile reported the committee appointed to examine the bill had done so, and found that the standing orders of the House had been complied with, and that the committee had examined the allegations of the bill and found the same to be true; and that the parties concerned had given their consent to the bill, to the satisfaction of the committee (except the proprietors of land assessed to the land tax at £17 3s. 9d. per annum, who refused to sign the bill; and also the proprietors of lands assessed to the land tax at £2 2s. 1d. per annum, who could not be found, and that the whole of the lands intended to be enclosed are assessed to the land tax at £214 3s. 7d.per annum), and that no person appeared before the committee to oppose the bill; and that the committee had gone through the bill and made several amendments thereunto, which they had directed him to report to the House, and he read the report in his place. The bill was then ordered to be engrossed, and it passed on the 2nd May, the title being "An Act for dividing and inclosing several open common fields, wolds, and average grounds, ings, marshes, carrs, commons, and other waste lands and grounds, within the several manors and parishes of Cawood, in the county of York."

BIOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNTS OF

EMINENT MEN AND FAMILIES CONNECTED WITH THE HISTORY OF SHERBURN AND CAWOOD.

MOUNTAIGNE OF WISTOW.

Arms:-Barry-lozengy Or and Azure, a chief gules 3 cross-crosslets of the first. Crest:-A crane's head issuing out of rays, all Or.

THOMAS MOUNTAIGNE, of Wistow, in com. Ebor, married daughter of Hungate, of Saxton, in com. Ebor, and had issue, George Mountaigne, who afterwards became Archbishop of York, and Isaac.

ISAAC MOUNTAIGNE, of Wistow, the heir alike of his father and brother, married Elizabeth, the daughter of Thomas Bell, of Rochester, in Kent, and had issue, George, James, and Richard. He died in 1648, and was succeeded by his son,

GEORGE MOUNTAIGNE, who married Mary, the daughter of Sir Thomas Gower, of Stitenham, in com. Ebor., and had issue, Elizabeth and Catherine, who were respectively seventeen and fourteen years of age in 1666, their father being then forty-six. Isaac and his son espoused the cause of the king, and for so doing were fined £1,155 11s. His daughter Elizabeth married Francis Foljambe, Esq., of Steeton, and Catherine married Sir Thomas Rudston, Bart,, of Hayton.

The story that George Mountaigne, the facetious Archbishop, was the child of indigent and obscure parents cannot therefore be strictly correct. His mother is said to have been a member of the wealthy and reputable house of Hungate, of Saxton (whose pedigree is given at p. 27), and that fact, if it does not establish their father's gentility,