On the 28th August, when all danger in the north appeared to have passed away and Charles had visited both armies without appealing to them for assistance, parliament decided to adjourn from the 8th September until the 20th October. The Commons were in need of rest after the excitement of the session, and the necessity for an adjournment was increased by another visitation of the plague,(459) which had already driven many members home without leave. The day preceding the adjournment was appointed to be kept as a day of thanksgiving for the peace; and, pursuant to an order of both Houses, the mayor issued his precept for shops to be closed and for the inhabitants of the city to attend divine service, after which bells were to be rung and bonfires lighted.(460) (M190) Before the Commons separated they delivered (26 Aug.) their judgment upon a petition(461) which the City had prepared for them in January touching its estate in Londonderry, of which it had been deprived in 1635 by sentence of the Court of Star Chamber. That petition set forth the unwillingness of the City to undertake the work of the Ulster plantation. It had only been undertaken at the late king’s earnest desire, and subject to special articles, the City absolutely refusing to be bound by the general articles drawn up by his majesty for ordinary undertakers. The Irish Society and the companies had expended more than £130,000 (exclusive of money laid out by tenants) on their estate "in hope to have in the future enjoyed some benefitt of their great cost and charge." The city of Londonderry and the town of Coleraine had been rebuilt, and the castle of Culmore repaired and entrenched. Fifteen churches had been either built or repaired, besides a "very fair" church and free school which had been erected in Derry at a cost of more than £4,000. Roads had been made which had converted one of the most barbarous places in the kingdom into one of the most civilised. The society and the companies, the petition went on to say, had enjoyed this estate without interruption until Hilary Term a° 6 Charles I (1631), when the Attorney-General, Sir Robert Heath, exhibited an information against the mayor, commonalty and citizens of London and divers individuals, suggesting that they had possessed themselves of the said lands and taken the profits before any grant was made to them, and that they had a greater quantity of lands than was intended to be passed by the grant, and had by indirect means procured divers privileges to be inserted in the grant for which the Attorney General who passed the grant had no warrant. Evidence of witnesses had been taken on the matter, but before the cause came to a hearing this information was dropt and another exhibited in Hilary Term a° 8 Charles I (1633) against the petitioners and the Irish Society, in which new charges touching infringement of conditions of Letters Patent were inserted, and upon these pretences the