CONSTABLE CONSTANCE. 



411 



which treats the proportions of the quantities of the 

 elements in a state of neutralization or solution a 

 branch of science which every day becomes more im- 

 portant, and which has been illustrated by the la- 

 bours, past and present, of a Berzelius, Klaproth, 

 Dobereiner and others. 



CONSTABLE (French conetable, from the Latin 

 vomes stabuli, count of the stable). This office ex- 

 isted as early as under the Roman emperors, and 

 passed into the constitution of the Franks. After 

 the major domus, or mayor of the palace, had become 

 king, the comes stabuli became the first dignitary of 

 the crown, the commander-in-chief of the armies, and 

 the highest judge in military affairs. Under the last 

 kings of the house of Valois, the connetable was of so 

 much political influence., that Louis XIII., after the 

 death of the connetable de Lesdiguieres, thought it 

 best not to appoint a new one ; and, in 1627, he abol- 

 ished the office entirely. Napoleon re-established 

 it as one of the high offices of the empire, but it 

 vanished with his downfall. In England, there was 

 formerly a lord high constable of England, an officer 

 of the crown of the highest dignity. The office of 

 constable appears to have been first granted by Wil- 

 liam the Conqueror to Walter, earl of Gloucester ; or, 

 according to some, to William Fitzosbome, or Roger 

 de Mortimer, and became hereditary in two different 

 families, as annexed to the earldom of Hereford. 

 After two centuries, Edward Stafford, duke of 

 Buckingham, then constable, being attainted of high 

 treason, the office was forfeited to the crown (13 

 Henry VIII.) ; since which time, lord high constables 

 have been appointed only to officiate at coronations, 

 and on other solemn occasions. There is also the 

 constable of the hundred, or high chief, or head con- 

 stable, probably sprung from this office, and the con- 

 stable of the village, or petty constable. The first 

 statute which appears to notice the constable is 13 

 Edward I., ch. 6, wherein "it is ordained that in 

 every hundred, or franchise, there shall be chosen 

 two constables, to make view of armour," &c. ; since 

 which period, the office has been familiarly known in 

 law, and various duties have been imposed upon it by 

 different statutes. Both the high and petty constables 

 are chosen at the leet or term of the hundred, or by 

 justices of the peace, and, in some places, by the 

 parishioners of towns and parishes, according to an- 

 cient and particular usage. The duties of constables 

 are multifarious, but may be summed up under two 

 heads repressing felonies, and keeping the peace, 

 of which they are the conservators by the common 

 law ; they are also bound to execute the precepts of 

 sheriffs, justices of the peace, and coroners. In the 

 United States, constables are town or city officers of 

 the peace, with powers similar to those possessed by 

 the constables of Great Britain. They are invested 

 also with powers to execute civil as well as criminal 

 process, and to levy executions. 



CONSTABLE, ARCHIBALD, an extensive Scottish 

 bookseller and publisher, was the son of an overseer 

 or land-steward on the estate of the earl of Kellie, in 

 Fifeshire, and born there in 1774. After receiving 

 an ordinary education, he was apprenticed, in 1788, 

 to Mr Peter Hill, bookseller in Edinburgh, and early 

 displayed a taste for collecting old, rare, and curious 

 books. On the expiry of nis apprenticeship, he 

 married the daughter of Mr Willison, printer in Edin- 

 burgh, and established himself as a bookseller in a 

 small shop in the High street, from which afterwards 

 emanated the Edinburgh Review, the poems of Sir 

 Walter Scott, the Waverley Novels, the supplement 

 to the Encyclopedia Britannica,and many other valu- 

 able works, which have intimately connected his name 

 with the literature of his country. In 1810, he him- 

 self edited and published a ' Chronicle of Fife ' from 



an old diary, and in 1822, he wrote a ' Memoir of 

 George Heriot,' illustrative of 'The Fortunes of 

 Nigel.' In 1823, he removed his establishment from 

 the High street to a more modern part of the city ; 

 but haa not been long there, before the public was 

 surprised by the announcement of the bankruptcy of 

 his house. This unexpected and lamentable occur- 

 rence inrolved, as is well known, Sir Walter Scott 

 in overwhelming debts, and his life was sacrificed in 

 gigantic efforts to overcome them. How a bookseller, 

 many of whose speculations were so pre-eminently sue- 

 cessful, should so far miscalculate his business, as to 

 end in such fatal bankruptcy, has never been very 

 well explained ; but much has been attributed to an 

 original want of capital, and great personal extrava- 

 gance, which kept him always behind the world, and 

 obliged him often to make wasteful sacrifices in order 

 to fulfill his engagements. To redeem his fortunes, 

 he projected the well-known series of publications, 

 issued under the name of " Constable's Miscellany," 

 which lias been the precursor of numerous other works 

 of a similar character. He did not long survive his 

 misfortunes, as he died on the 21st of July, 1827. 

 Notwithstanding the unfortunate result of Mr Con- 

 stable's business, it cannot be denied that he did much 

 for the literature of his country, by his readiness in 

 appreciating literary merit, his liberality in reward- 

 ing it, and the sagacity he displayed in bringing it 

 in an acceptable manner before the public. In the 

 introduction to the Fortunes of Nigel, he is com- 

 mended as one " whose vigorous intellect and liberal 

 ideas, had not only rendered his native country the 

 mart of her own literature, but established there a 

 court of letters, which commanded respect even from 

 those most inclined to dissent from many of its can- 

 ons." 



CONSTANCE, LAKE OF (or Boden See; properly 

 Bodman See, from the old castle of Bodman), lies be- 

 tween Germany and Switzerland ; is 10 leagues in its 

 greatest length, and 3 in its greatest breadth, and l 

 in its least. It is 368 fathoms in its greatest depth, 

 and 1089 feet above the level of the sea. It is divid- 

 ed into the Zell, or lower, and the Bregentz, or up- 

 per lake. Several rivers flow into it ; e. g. the 

 Rhine, which enters it at Rheineck, and issues from 

 it at Stein ; also the Bregentz, the Argen, the Schus- 

 sen, and four streams which bear the name of Aach. 

 It contains the islands of Lindau, Reichenau, and 

 Meinau. It has 73 kinds of marsh birds and water 

 fowl, 20 kinds of shell fish, and 26 other fish, among 

 which is the salmon trout. The trade and commerce 

 of the lake are inconsiderable, on account of the falls 

 of the Rhine at Schaff hausen, and are confined to 

 grain, salt, and lake wine, as the wine there made is 

 called. The lake has not been frozen over since 

 1695. In 1824, steam-boat navigation was commenc- 

 ed on this lake. 



CONSTANCE ; capital of the Seekreis (Circle of 

 the Lake), in the grand-duchy of Baden, on the lake 

 of Constance, or Boden, where the Rhine unites the 

 upper part of the lake with the lower ; lat. 47 36' 

 10" N., and long. 9 8' E. The city and its two sub- 

 urbs, connected by a bridge over the Rhine, are par- 

 tially fortified, and very extensive, considering the 

 small number of inhabitants (4500). The ancient 

 episcopal residence and the cathedral contain beauti- 

 ful monuments of Gothic architecture. Constance is 

 memorable for the council of 1414 18. The Ger- 

 man emperor, the pope, 26 princes, 140 counts, more 

 than 20 cardinals, 7 patriarchs, 20 archbishops, 91 

 bishops, 600 other clerical dignitaries and doctors, 

 and about 4000 priests, were present at this ecclesias- 

 tical assembly, which was occasioned by the divisions 

 and contests about the affairs of the church. From 

 1305 77, the popes had resided at Avignon ; but, 



