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11. obtain'd leave to Send two persons to represent them; property by various methods being split, gave rise to the distinction between greater & lesser Barons, the former were those that kept their old extensive fiefs, the other the new & less powerful Vassals of the Crown, they both were bound to the same feudal services, & consequently to personal attendance in Parliament; their is nothing more remarkable than the pairs the leser Barons took to deny their being forc'd to assist in Parliament, & the Towns to obtain Charters exempting them from sending Representatives.

note t anno 1427. /note In the Reign of James I. the Lesser Barons obtain'd a Statue exempting them from personal attendance in Parliament, on condition they sent a certain number of Representatives for each County; the Parliament was compos'd only of Lords Spiritual, & Temporal, of Knights of the Shires, & of Bargesoes