MINING IN THE

CHAP. X.

history, that the owner of the land on whichmines were discovered had a right to any por-tion of the mineral products before the fifth yearof Henry sixth, (1426). At that date the Dukeof Bedford, then regent of France , received alease for ten years of all the mines of gold andsilver in the kingdom of England, on conditionof paying one-tenth to holy church, a fifteenthto the king, and a twentieth to the lord of thesoil.

When Henry had arrived at maturity he con-tinued mineral grants to several of his nobles ;among others to the Earls of Warwick andNorthumberland, and to his brother Richard,Earl of Gloster; but in these the terms werevaried. They were to pay to the king one-eighth of the profit, to the lord of the soil one-ninth, and to the parish priest one-tenth.

Henry the Seventh, at the commencement ofhis reign, appointed Jasper, Duke of Bedford,and several other persons of high rank, go-vernors of all the mines in England and Wales ;paying to the king the fifteenth part of tli epuregold and silver, and to the lord of the soil theeleventh part as it grows; meaning probablythat portion of the crude ore.

In the early part of the reign of Elizabeth,attention to mining was greatly revived. Acorporation was formed bearing the title of themines royal society. The first governor was