174         NEW  HAMPSHIRE  AS  A  ROYAL  PROVINCE        [356

journey  from  the  place  where  you  commonly  sit  and  an  as-
sembly according  to  the  law  of  the  province  can  be  con-
vened in  the  space  of  fifteen  days  from  the  date  of  the  king's
writ.  But,"  he  went  on  to  say,  "  be  that  as  it  will,  as  I
have  at  no  time  invaded  the  rights  of  your  house,  I  think  it
had  well  become  you  not  to  have  mentioned  anything  to
me  that  carries  the  face  of  bearing  upon  his  Majesty's  just
authority."  ^

At  first  the  only  check  upon  the  governor's  power  of  dis-
solution was  imposed  by  an  English  statute  which  required
a  dissolution  within  a  certain  time  after  the  death  of  the
reigning  sovereign.  '  This  was  probably  the  law  to  which
Dudley  had  been  referred,  when  he  told  the  house  in  17 14
that  he  had  the  opinion  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  law  that  he
could  not  continue  the  assembly  any  longer  upon  a  writ
made  out  in  the  reign  of  the  late  queen.^

At  least  twice  during  the  colonial  period,  doubts  were
entertained  as  to  the  legality  of  an  assembly's  existence.
