158 On the ORIGIN and STRUCTURE of 



are extant ; and the preamble of them bears, that they were 

 enacted with the advice of his father, &c. and the eldeft wites 

 of his people. One of thefe laws provides, that, if any perfon 

 fights in an alderman's houfe, or in other (<>)>per) illuftrious 

 wite's houfe, he muft pay, fcfr. Dr HENRY* has tranflated the 

 paflage thus : " If any man fights in an alderman's houfe, or 



' in the houfe of one of the famous wife men." It is evident, 

 that here the Doctor makes the pafTage exprefs a diftindlion be- 

 tween an alderman and a wite, while the Saxon relative o>pep 

 manifeftly implies, that aldermen were wites, though there were 

 wites that were not aldermen. 



ASSERUS, in his life of ALFRED, mentions the attention of 

 that prince to the diftribution of juftice, and his rebuking his 

 judges for affuming the rank and functions of wites, " Gradus 



' et minifterium fapientum," while they neglected " fapientis 



1 fludium et operam j" and commanding them, therefore, to 

 lay afide " terrenarum poteftatum minifteria." This paflage 

 proves, that the wites, or fapientes, were poffefled of the powers 

 of magiftrates. The fequel of it is, however, (till more expli- 

 cit, and, as I apprehend, obviates every doubt ; for, in men- 

 tioning the effect of the rebuke, ASSERUS names particularly 

 the perfons reformed by it : " Perterriti veluti pro maxima vin- 

 " dicta correcti comites et prsepofiti ad equitatis difcendi flu- 



' dium totis viribus fe vertere nitebantnr j ita ut minim in 

 " modum illiterati ab infantia comites, pene omnes praspofiti 



' ac miniftri, literatoriae arte fluderent," &c. f. 



THESE paffages fcarce require a commentary. In the law of 

 INA, aldermen are mentioned as a confiderable clafs of wites. 

 The rebuke of ALFRED relates only to laymen ; and the fapi- 

 entes laici are there fpecified under the Latin names univerfally 

 ufed to denote chiefs of counties and towns. The lay wites 

 were certainly, therefore, the chiefs of diftricts, by whatever 

 name thofe chiefs were called, heretoges, aldermen, or gerefas : 



And 



* Hift. of Gr. Brit. vol. 2. p. 246. f P. 21. 



