ANTIQUITIES. 
Account of the Government. of Eng- 
land from the Year 1400 to 1485; 
trom Andrews’s History of Great 
Britain, Vol. 1, Part 2. 
Se: power of each department 
of legislature became now 
more accurately defined, although 
no considerable alterations had been 
made in either. 
The king’s authority was most as- 
suredly notin general despotic, since 
he could neither repeal nor change 
any law which had been made by 
consent of his parliament. Yet 
that dispnesing power which each 
monarch assumed, when it suited 
his purpose, threw far too great a 
weight into the scale of royalty. 
The sovereign besides retained the 
cruel right of giving i in marriage the 
wards of the crown, although that 
preiogative (as well as that of pur- 
veyance) was exercised in a much 
more moderate degree than it had 
been of old.* 
He could likewise press for his 
service not only soldiers and sailors, 
but also musicians, goldsmiths, em- 
broiderers and various sorts of arti- 
ficers.t 
The peers attended their duty in 
parliament at their own expence, 
The representatives of the commons 
were always paid from the com- 
jueneement of representation. Tor 
* Fortescue de Laudibus Legum Angliz. 
} Preamble to stat, 25, Hen. VI. cap, 14. 
*110 J | a 
wards the close of the 14th century 
it was fixed at 4s.. per diem for 
knights of shires, and half that sum 
for each burgess. 
The shenfi’s influence in returne 
ing members was extensive and fre- 
quently abused, ‘ Sometimes they 
made no proper elections of knights, 
&c. sometimes no return at all, and © 
sometimes they returned such as 
had never been elected’ 
For these and such hke misde- | 
meanors he might be sued by action | 
at the assizes and was liable to fine 
and imprisonment. 
The qualification requisite for 
knights of the shires was 401. per 
annum. It appears too that strength | 
of body and constitution was de- | 
manded, for the parliamentary writs 
about this period directed the elec~ 
tors to chuse not only the wisest but 
the stoutest men (potentiores ad la- 
borandum), that they might be able 
to endure the fatigue of the journey . 
and of close attendance.§ 
Besides their pay, the members 
of the House of Commons had the 
privilege, for themseves and their 
servants, of freedom from all ar- 
rests. A necessary exemption, that 
they might be enabled to perform 
their duty. But this privilege (as 
well as their pay) attended on the 
members only during their actual 
services, and quitted them at the 
“a 
+ Ibid 
§ Prynne. 
end 
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ae Ng eer 
