or me, well pavid. The paroch chirche is faire. Chapelles or chirches beside, yn the towne, be none. The hole toune is builded of tymbre. At the southest end of the chirch is a faire house of tymbre, wher ons king Henry VII. did lye*." Loughborough consists of one parish, to which belong the two hamlets of Wood-thorpe and Knight-thorne, both about a mile distant; each having its proper officers, and maintaining its own poor. Great part of the town is the property of the Earl of Moira, to whom it came from his uncle, the late Earl of Huntingdon, in whose family it has been since the time of queen Mary.

An Act was passed in 1759, for inclosing several open fields, within the lordship, township, or liberty of Loughborough, where the last mentioned nobleman was acknowledged to be lord of the manor, and the masters, fellows, &c. of Emanuel College, Cambridge, as patrons of the rectory.

From a list, returned by the constables of this parish, in 1770, it appeared, that Loughborough then contained 43 licenced inns and ale-houses; and in 1783 there were above 50 licenced houses. In the place of an old cross is a modern market-house, or what is called the Butter and Hen Cross, which was erected in 1742, and is supported by eight round brick pillars. At the upper end of the market place stands a ruinous brick edifice, called The Court Chamber, where is annually held the lord's leet. The building appears to have been erected in 1688. It is sometimes appropriated to a ball-room, and to a theatre. The chief manufactures carried on at present are, hosiery, wool-combing, and frame work knitting. The Loughborough-canal has proved very serviceable to this town, and a valuable concern to the original proprietors; as 951. a year dividend has been paid on a share of 1251. and one of these shares has sold for 18001.

In the year 1557 this town was infested by a peculiar disease, called in the Parish Register "The Swat, alias New-Acquaintance, Stoupe, Knave, and Know thy Master." This disorder carried

off

Leland, Vol. I. p. 20,

T

off nineteen persons in six days, and was called, by Dr. Freind, a pestilent contageous fever of one day. Between Midsummer 1555, and Midsummer 1559, there died of the plague and other diseases, 295 persons. In 1564 the assizes were held at this town, in consequence of the plague being then at Leicester." This fatal disorder prevailed here at different subsequent periods, and carried off several persons; in the year 1609, not less than 500 of the inhabitants died.

In the church yard is a free-grammar school, which was endowed' with the rents arising from certain lands, &c. left by Thomas Burton, for the maintenance of a chantry within the church. Here is also a charity school, for eighty boys and twenty girls.

The church is a large pile of building, consisting of a nave, side ailes, chancel, transept, and tower. The latter is handsome, and was built by subscription, towards the end of the sixteenth century. Here are four dissenting meeting-houses; one for the Presbyterians, another for Baptists, a third for the followers of Westley, and a fourth for Quakers. In 1800 the town contained 981 houses, and 4546 inhabitants.

ASHBY-DE-LA-ZOUCH,

IN ancient writings called Ascebi and Esseby, is a small market town, situated near the north western extremity of this county and hundred. The parish is very extensive, and includes the hamlets of Blackfordby and Boothorpe, also the extra parochial lordship. of Alton-Grange. The manor and principal part of the lordship belong to the Earl of Moira. The town consists chiefly of one street, and was formerly almost environed by the three parks, distinguished by the names of Prestop, the Great, and the Little.

The original name of this place was simply Ashby; but acquired the addition of de-la-Zouch, to distinguish it from other Ashby's, from Alan-la-Zouch, who married an heiress, who possessed the manor in the time of Henry the Third. In the year 1461 the manor devolved to the crown, and was then granted, inter alia, to

Sir William Hastings, Knight, who was particularly favoured by King Edward the Fourth, and was a very eminent character of that age. He was appointed master of the mint in the tower of London; steward of the honour of Leicester, Donington, &c.; constable of the castles of those two places, and at HighamFerrers; ranger of Leicester forest and park, Barrow, and Tooley Parks, &c. He was afterwards made chamberlain of the king's household, and lord chamberlain of North Wales. In 1461 he was advanced to the dignity of a baron; and had several manors, lordships, &c. granted him. The next year he was installed knight of the garter; and, after receiving many other public honours, obtained licence from Edward the Fourth, in 1474, to impark 3000 acres of land and wood in Ashby-de-la-Zouch; 2000 acres of land and wood in Bagworth and Thornton; and 2000 more at Kirby, with the liberty of free warren within them all*. He was also licenced † to erect houses of lime and stone, at

each

* The power and dignity of this nobleman, and the peculiar customs of the times, may be estimated by the following statement of Dr. Fuller. In 1475 Lord Hastings" had no less than two lords, nine knights, and fifty-eight esquires, with twenty gentlemen of note, that were retained by indenture during their lives, to take his part against all persons whatever, within the realm, their allegiance to the king, &c. only excepted." He was beheaded on Tower Hill, in June, 1483, and was interred in the splendid chapel of St. George, at Windsor, where an elegant monument has been raised to his memory. A descendant of this nobleman was the eccentric Henry Hastings, whose oddities are described in Vol. IV. p. 434, of the present work.

The terms in this licence or patent are "murellandi, tourellandi, kernellandi, imbattellandi, turrellendi, and machecolandi." The Latinized-French words signify; "murellare, to wall up or immure; tourellare, to make towers, bulwarks, or fortresses; kernellare, to pinnacle; imbattellare, to embattle; turrellare, to make holes or loops in walls; machecolare, to make a warlike device over a gate, or other passage, likė to a grate, through which scalding water, or ponderous offensive things might be cast down upon the enemy; all which, except the three first, are thus interpreted by Lord Coke, in the first book of his institutes, where it is said that no subject can build a castle, or house of strength, without special leave of the king." BURTON'S MS.