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strife and contumely. Leland reports the town to have been " foul and dirty " in his time, and in the following century it preserved the same character, for in 1631 the High Street was so much in decay, unpaved, and so " noisome," that an assessment was made for the necessary repairs; but a large body of the burgesses " wouldn't have it," and carried their opposition into effect by stealing the assessment roll, Corporation charters, &c., so that the ruling body could not act. An action was brought at King's Bench, and a bill filed in Chancery. Great corruption was proved against the Corporation, and much violence and unseemly action against certain of the burgesses. By the year 1720 these abuses had so much increased that some of the townsmen took possession of the Exchequer-house, and elected a number of burgesses, but judgment was obtained against them in King's Bench. Similar conduct took place in 1748 by the burgesses in the interest of Lord Foley, as against Lord Sandys and Sir E. Winnington, and this time they were successful, so that the borough remained in the hands of the Foleys until the time of the Reform Bill. The Foleys were lords of the manor and proprietors of much property here. The Pakingtons contested the borough with them at the close of the seventeenth century, when the question was raised whether the right of election was in the burgesses or the proprietors of the salt springs. The House of Commons decided that the power was vested with the burgesses of the Corporation of the salt springs. The Pakingtons, therefore, lost the contest, and the Foleys "enjoyed" the Whig pocket borough for a lengthened period. By the Reform Bill Droitwieh was deprived of one of its Members, and in order to make up the required population the boundaries of the borough were enlarged over some twelve or fifteen parishes, so that, perhaps, it is geographically one of the largest boroughs in this country; and hence the influence of the Foleys became weakened and destroyed by the introduction of other interests, till their property here was sold, with the rest of their extensive Worcestershire estates. In 1835