CHARTERS, GRANTED BY DIFFERENT SOVEREIGNS, TO THE BURGESSES OF PRESTON, IN THE COUNTY PÁLATINE OF LANCASTER. PRINTED FROM ATTESTED COPIES, THE ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS BY THE REV. JOHN LINGARD, D. D., LL. D. PRESTON: FUBLISHED AND SOLD BY I. WILCOCKSON, CHRONICLE-OFFICE, MARKET PLACE. IN N presenting to the Public a complete set of the Charters. which have, in various reigns, been granted to the Free Burgesses of the ancient Borough of Preston, it has not been found necessary to print each document in a separate form; for, on comparing the distinct Charters, with the recitations in the Charter of Elizabeth, it has been discovered, that each of the previous grants, is correctly copied at full length, into that document. The marginal notes to the translated copy of Elizabeth's Charter, will direct the reader where to find the commencement and ending of the other Charters. Several of them, and amongst the rest that of Philip and Mary, are mere confirmations of former privileges. Where additional ones have been conferred, they are pointed out in the margin, by the words "Additional Grant," or "Additional Grant by the same." The Charters are mentioned by Elizabeth in the inverse order in which they were conferred, until we come to that of Edward III., which recites the four previous ones in the regular order of their respective dates, beginning with that of Henry II. Having enumerated the privileges bestowed by her predecessors, Elizabeth proceeds to confirm the whole of them; to incorporate the Burgesses; and to make a variety of provisions "for the rule and better government, and melioration of the borough." This confirmation and the additional provisions, follow the confirmatory clause of Philip and Mary, at page 10 of the Latin, and 18 of the English Copies. IN N presenting to the Public a complete set of the Charters. which have, in various reigns, been granted to the Free Burgesses of the ancient Borough of Preston, it has not been found necessary to print each document in a separate form; for, on comparing the distinct Charters, with the recitations in the Charter of Elizabeth, it has been discovered, that each of the previous grants, is correctly copied at full length, into that document. The marginal notes to the translated copy of Elizabeth's Charter, will direct the reader where to find the commencement and ending of the other Charters. Several of them, and amongst the rest that of Philip and Mary, are mere confirmations of former privileges. Where additional ones have been conferred, they are pointed out in the margin, by the words "Additional Grant," or "Additional Grant by the same." The Charters are mentioned by Elizabeth in the inverse order in which they were conferred, until we come to that of Edward III., which recites the four previous ones in the regular order of their respective dates, beginning with that of Henry II. Having enumerated the privileges bestowed by her predecessors, Elizabeth proceeds to confirm the whole of them; to incorporate the Burgesses; and to make a variety of provisions "for the rule and better government, and melioration of the borough." This confirmation and the additional provisions, follow the confirmatory clause of Philip and Mary, at page 10 of the Latin, and 18 of the English Copies. |