and approbation of the most Rev" the Archbishops of Can- Founder. AND WHEREAS the said testator, Sir George Down- Death of the ing, died on or about the tenth day of June, in the year of our Lord, 1749. Proceedings in Chancery. AND WHEREAS sometime in or about the year of our Lord 1764, an information was exhibited in our high Court of Chancery, by our then Attorney-general, at the relation of the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of our said University of Cambridge, against Dame Margaret Downing, widow, afterwards the wife of George Bowyer, Esq, now Sir George Bowyer, Bart. and the persons who were then the heirs at law of the said Sir George Downing, and divers other persons who were necessary parties to the said suit; and, by the Decree pronounced on the hearing of the said cause, bearing date the 3d day of July 1769, our then Lord high Chancellor of Great Britain, did declare the will of the said testator, Sir George Downing, and a codicil thereto well proved; and that the same ought to be established, and the trusts thereof performed and carried into execution; particularly the trusts of the said charity; in case we should be pleased to grant our royal charter to incorporate the said college, and our royal licence for such incorporated college, to take the devised premises in mortmain; and did decree the same accordingly ; and the defendants, the heirs at law of the said testator, were to be at liberty to apply to us for that purpose: And his Lordship did declare, that the free hold estates, purchased by the said testator after the making of the said will, did not pass by virtue of the codicil, the will not being thereby republished; and that the leases which were renewed or run out, after the making the will, and before the said testator's death, did not pass by the will, but fell into the residue of the said testator's personal estate ; and that the copyhold estates of the said testator not surrendered to the use of his will, descended to his heir at law; and directions were given for enquiries touching the annual value of the premises devised to the charity, in order to enable the heirs at law of the testator to form a judgment what number of fellows and scholars could be maintained by the endowment; and the said heirs at law of the said testator were to be at liberty to contract for a piece of ground within our said University of Cambridge, whereon to found the said college, conditionally, in case the charter and licence should be granted by us. AND WHEREAS, the said suit and proceedings having from time to time become abated by the deaths of several of the parties thereto, several informations of revivor and supplement were afterwards filed by our then Attorney Contract for a Scite. general, at the relation of the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars, of our said University of Cambridge, against the persons who, from time to time, were the heirs at law of the said Sir George Downing, and all necessary parties; and by a decretal Order made on the hearing of the said several informations of revivor and supplement, on the 16th day of February 1795, the said former decree of the 3rd day of July 1769, was ordered to be prosecuted against the several parties thereto, in like manner as was thereby directed against the parties to the original cause. AND WHEREAS Sir George Cornewall, Bart. and Dame Catherine his wife; Mary Goate, widow; Francis Annesley, and William Henry Scourfield, Esquires; (which said Dame Catherine Cornewall, Mary Goate, Francis Annesley, and William Henry Scourfield, are the present heirs at law of the said testator Sir George Downing), have lately contracted and agreed with the mayor, bailiffs, and burgesses, of the said town of Cambridge, and with Mr. Thomas Thackeray, their lessee, for the purchase of the fee-simple and inheritance in possession of a certain piece of ground within the said town and university of Cambridge, containing, by estimation, one [7] acre, more or less, as it was then enclosed, called Doll's Close, as a scite whereon to found the said intended college, conditionally, in case we should be graciously pleased to grant our royal charter to incorporate the said college, and our royal licence to such incorporated college, to hold lands in mortmain, which contracts have been submitted to and approved by our Lord high Chancellor of Great Britain. of the Scite. AND WHEREAS, by Indentures of Lease and Release, Conveyance inrolled in our said high Court of Chancery, bearing date respectively the 14th and 15th days of July, in the year of our Lord 1800, and made between the Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses, of the said town of Cambridge, of the one part, and the said Sir George Cornewall, and Dame Catherine his wife, Mary Goate, Francis Annesley, and William Henry Scourfield, of the other part, the said Mayor, Bailiffs, and Burgesses, did, for the considerations therein-mentioned, grant, release, and convey, unto the said Sir George Cornewall, and Dame Catherine his wife, Mary Goate, Francis Annesley, and William Henry Scourfield, and their heirs, the said piece of ground, called Doll's Close, with the appurtenances, To hold the same unto, and to the use of, |