on Sundays only, as bear and bull-baitings, interludes, and, at all times, in the meaner sort of people, by law prohibited, bowling.” A few months after this concession to the wishes of a portion of his subjects, James issued a publication designated the “Book of Sports,” in which he explained what were to be considered lawful sports to be indulged in on “Sundays and Festivals.” The gentlemen enumerated below were free-tenants, residing in the Fylde, during his reign:— Clifton, Sir Cuthbert, of Westby, knight. Banister, Sir Robert, of Plumpton, knight. Fleetwood, Edward, of Rossall, esq. Westby, Thomas, of Mowbreck, esq. Kirkby, William, of Upper Rawcliffe, esq. Veale, Edward, of Whinney Heys, esq. Burgh, Richard, of Larbrick, esq. Leckonby, John, of Great Eccleston, esq. Longworth, Richard, of St. Michael’s, esq. Parker, John, of Bradkirk, esq. Hesketh, William, of Mains, esq. Singleton, Thomas, of Staining, esq. Brown, James, of Singleton, gent. Leigh, Robert, of Plumpton, gent. Smith, John, of Kirkham, gent. Sharples, Henry, of Kirkham, gent, ffrance, John, of Eccleston, gent. Thompson Wm., of Little Eccleston, gent. Dobson, William, of Bispham, gent. Hornby, Henry, of Bankfield, gent. Bradley, James, of Bryning, gent. Taylor, James, of Poulton, gent. Bamber, Thomas, of Poulton, gent. Bailey, Lawrence, of Layton, gent. Bonny, Robert, of Kirkham, gent. Whiteside, Robt., of Thornton, gent. In the Registers of Kirkham is the annexed statement, from which it appears that a few years from the death of James I. the Fylde, or at least a considerable tract of it, was visited by some fatal epidemic, but its peculiar nature cannot be ascertained:—“A.D. 1630. This year was a great plague in Kirkham, in which the more part of the people of the town died thereof. It began about the 25th of July and continued vehemently until Martinmas, but was not clear of it before Lent; and divers towns of the parish was infected with it, and many died thereof out of them, as Treales, Newton, Greenall, Estbrick, Thistleton. N.B.—The great mortality was in the year 1631; 304 died that year, and were buried at Kirkham, of whom 193 in the months of August and September”. Charles I. soon after ascending the throne in 1626, provoked a breach with his parliament by endeavouring to enforce subsidies, with which to carry on his foreign wars, and further, he alienated the affections and respect of the Puritan section of his subjects by confirming the regulations of the “Book of Sports.” Dissatisfaction and murmurings were quickly fermented into rebellion, and the closing of the gates of Hull against the king in 1642 initiated those fearful wars, which desolated and disorganised the country for so many years. In 1641, Alexander Rigby,[37] esq., of Layton Hall, Sir Gilbert de Hoghton, with eight other gentlemen, were removed from the commission of the peace, by order of parliament, on