150 On the ORIGIN and STRUCTURE of 



' habito cum fuis concilio, refpondit, fe non pofle animos eo- 

 ' rum inclinare ad decimam dandam. Et ipfi pro fe refponde- 

 ' runt, fe nunquam decimam daturos ; nee etiam fi rex An- 

 ' gliae, et dominus eorum, rex Scotiaz, juraffent fe illam habi- 

 ' turos, unquam illam darent*." In the laws of WILLIAM, 

 we find fome introduced as follows : " Aflifa regis WILLIELMI 

 ' facia apud Perth, quam epifcopi, abbates, comites, barones, 

 ' thani, et tota communitas regni tenere firmiter juraverunt," 

 EsV. f . " Statuit rex WILLIELMUS apud Sconam, de commu- 

 ' ni concilio et deliberatione praelatorum, comitum, et baro- 

 ' num, ac libere tenentium,'' <&c. ^. Nothing, however, is 

 extant which communicates more fatisfaclory evidence of the 

 ancient diet being an affembly of the nation, than the indenture 

 entered into between ROBERT BRUCE and his people, in the year 

 1326. It proceeds on the narrative, that the king, holding his 

 full parliament, where were affembled the earls, barons, bur- 

 gefles, and all the other freeholders of his kingdom, made a 

 propofal to them, which they approved of, and the perfons ap- 

 proving are enumerated in the following explicit manner : " Qui 

 1 omnes et finguli comites, barones, burgenfes, et libere te- 

 " nentes, tarn infra libertates quam extra, de domino rege, vel 

 " quibufcunque aliis dominis infra regnum, mediate vel imme- 

 " diate tenentes, cujufcunque fuerint conditionis ||, confide- 

 " rantes et fatentes prsemifla effe vera, &c. habito fuper prx- 

 " miffis communi ac diligenti traclatu, 13c. unanimiter concef- 

 " ferunt," &c . . This very curious record, the original of 



which 



* Vol. 2. p. 515. -J- Cap. 7. See alfo general title. J Cap. 32. 



|| THE ecclefiaftics Teem to have been omitted in this enumeration, becaufe the grant 

 in agitation regarded only laymen. In the parliament, or aflembly of the ftates at Ayr, 

 j4. D. 1315, where the fettlement of the crown was made on ROBERT I. the enumera- 

 tion is as follows : " Epifcopi, abbates, priores decani, archidiaconi, et caeteri eccle- 

 " fiarum praelati, comites, barones, et cseteri de communitate regni Scotia;, tarn 

 " cleric! quam laici." Ap. ANDERSON'S Independence, Appendix, No. 24. 



5 THE diet which HENRY I. of England fummoned in 1115 or 1116, to recognize the 

 fucceflSon of bis fon WILLIAM, feems to have contained vaffals of fubjedts. MALMSBUR.Y 



fays, 



