ome to
themselves and the towns who sent them. The mass of citizens took little or
no part in their choice, for they were elected in the county court by a few
of the principal burghers deputed for the purpose; but the cost of their
maintenance, the two shillings a day paid to the burgess by his town as
four were paid to the knight by his county, was a burden from which the
boroughs made desperate efforts to escape. Some persisted in making no
return to the sheriff. Some bought charters of exemption from the
troublesome privilege. Of the 165 who were summoned by Edward the First
more than a third ceased to send representatives after a single compliance
with the royal summons. During the whole time from the reign of Edward the
Third to the reign of Henry the Sixth the sheriff of Lancashire declined to
return the names of any boroughs at all within that county "on account of
their poverty." Nor were the representatives themselves more anxious to
appear than their boroughs to send them. The busy country squire and the
thrifty trader were equally reluctant to undergo the trouble and expense of
a journey to Westminster. Legal measures were often necessary to ensure
their presence. Writs still exist in abundance such as that by which Walter
le Rous is "held to bail in eight oxen and four cart-horses to come before
the King on the day specified" for attendance in Parliament. But in spite
of obstacles such as these the presence of representatives from the
boroughs may be regarded as continuous from the Parliament of 1295. As the
representation of the lesser barons had widened through a silent change
into that of the shire, so that of the boroughs--restricted in theory to
those in the royal demesne--seems practically from Edward's time to have
been extended to all who were in a condition to pay the cost of their
representatives' support. By a change as silent within the Parliament
itself the burgess, originally summoned to take part only in matters of
taxation, was at last admitted to a full share in the deliberations and
authority of the other orders of the State.

[Sidenote: Parliament and the Clergy]

The admission of the burgesses and knights of the shire to the assembly of
1295 completed the fabric of our representative constitution. The Great
Council of the Barons became the Parliament of the Realm. Every order of
the state found itself represented in this assembly, and took part in the
grant of supplies, the work of legi