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to use and exercise the office, privileges, and franchises of a free Burgess of the said borough. And then he traversed the usurpation charged against him.

The defendant Benjamin Burton pleaded the same plea, mutatis mutandis. And the seven other defendants, who had been duly elected, admitted, and sworn into, and acted in the office of Burgesses of the said borough, conceiving themselves well entitled to exercise the same, put in several pleas, insisting on their right, and traversing the usurpation.

The Coroner, after demanding oyer of the charter of the corporation, and having it granted and set forth verbatim, replied to each of the nine defendants pleas severally, as follows:

The said Thomas Carter saith, That by any thing above in pleading alledged by the said John Ponsonby, the said office, privileges, and franchises of a free Burgess of the said borough of Newtown, claimed by him in manner specified in the said plea, ought not to be allowed unto him: for that the said Thomas Carter saith, that after the time of the electing the said John Ponsonby, as and for one of the said free Burgesses of the said borough, that is to say, on the 3d day of October, in the year 1745, he the said John Ponsonby had notice at Dublin that he was so elected; and yet the said John Ponsonby, within seven days after such election, or at any other time before the 4th day of June, in the year 1748, did not apply to be admitted and sworn into the said office of Burgess; but the said John Ponsonby, for the space of two years and seven months, and upwards, that is to say from the 1st day of October 1745, to the said 4th day of June 1748, did [315] not reside or live at any place within the said borough of Newtown; but the said John Ponsonby wilfully, and without any reasonable cause, and knowing he was elected as aforesaid, during the said last mentioned time was absent from the said borough, and did reside without the limits of the said borough, and eighty miles from the same, that is to say, at Dublin; whereby the said John Ponsonby forfeited the said office, privileges, and franchises of a free Burgess of the said borough of Newtown, by him claimed in manner aforesaid, and all his right and title thereto, and ceased to be a free Burgess of the said borough, or to have any right to be admitted and sworn into the said office; nevertheless the said John Ponsonby, during the time above specified in the said information, did claim, and still claims to have and use these privileges and franchises as by the said information is supposed. And this the said Attorney and Coroner is ready to verify. Wherefore he desires judgment; and that the said John Ponsonby be convicted of the premises, and excluded from the said privileges and franchises by him claimed in manner aforesaid, etc.

The Coroner replied in like manner to the defendant Benjamin Burton's plea.

And as to the plea of the defendant Richard Ponsonby above pleaded, the said Thomas Carter said, that by any thing above in pleading alledged by the said Richard Ponsonby, the office, privileges, and franchises of a free Burgess of the said borough of Newtown, above claimed by him, ought not to be allowed and adjudged to him; for that the said Richard Ponsonby, after the said 21st day of January in the year 1744, for the space of three years and four months, and upwards, that is to say, from the said 21st day of January 1744, to the 4th day of June in the year 1748, did not reside or live at any place within the said borough of Newtown; but the said Richard Ponsonby wilfully, and without any reasonable cause, and contrary to the trust reposed in him by the said letters patent, and contrary to the law of the land, during the said last mentioned time was absent from the said borough, and did reside without the limits of the said borough, and eighty miles from the same, that is to say, at Dublin; whereby the said Richard Ponsonby forfeited the said office, privileges, and franchise of a free Burgess of the said borough of Newtown by him claimed as above, and ceased to be a Burgess thereof. Nevertheless the said Richard Ponsonby, during the time above specified in the said information, did usurp, and still usurped those privileges and franchises on our now Lord the King, as by the said information was supposed; and this the said Attorney and Coroner for the said Lord the King was ready to verify. Wherefore he desired judgment; and that the said Richard Ponsonby be convicted of the premises, and excluded from the said privileges and franchises by him claimed, etc. And the Coroner replied in like manner to the pleas of the six other defendants.

The defendants rejoined severally; and the two defendants who had been only