he held it with an iron grasp. By means of pulling
down houses, this crafty baronet thinned down the
electors to sixteen, and finally further reduced the
number to three. Sir Christopher held Grampound
and Tregony as well in his fist, and had runners at
his several boroughs to keep him informed how
election proceedings went on in each place. His
high-handed proceedings and his closeness in everything not connected with elections made him vastly unpopular. One morning a paper was found affixed to the gates of Trewithen.
"A large house, and no cheer,
A large park, and no deer,
A large cellar, and no beer.
Sir Christopher Hawkins lives here."
Sir Kit died in 1829, unmarried, when the title became extinct, but his memory continues green, if not sweet, in the minds of Cornishmen of the parts where he ruled.
In 1806 one of the representatives of the borough was Arthur Wellesley, the subsequent Duke of Wellington.
During eleven years, 1807-1818, there were nine elections at Mitchell. No event of importance occurred after 1818, except the extraordinary and significant revelation made at the contested election of 1831, when Hawkins, the nephew of Sir Christopher, got two votes; Kenyon, a Tory, five; and Bent three. In the following year the five electors of Mitchell found their borough disfranchised.
There were, when I visited Mitchell in 1893. two
