BOOK FOURTH 



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CHAPTER I. 



" Worthy men all, and of good standing." 



" 'Tis opportune to look back upon old times, 

 and contemplate our forefathers."— Sir Thomas Browne. 



" The ReevS was a slendre colerick man ; 



His beard was shav'd as nigh as ever he can ; 



His hair was by his ear^s round yshorn ; 



His top was docked like a priest beforn. 



Full long^ were his legg& and full lean, 



Ylike a staff, there was no calf yseen. 



Well could he keep a garner and a bin. 



There was no auditor could on him win. 



There n'as bailiff, ne herd, ne other hine 



That he ne knew his sleight, and his covine ; 



They were a-dread of him, as of the death. 



He had his wonning fair upon a heath, 



With green^ trees yshadowed was his place." — Chaucer. 



\ S time pursues its onward course, and the manners and cus- 

 •*-^ toms of society undergo change, new officers are called into 

 existence to suit the altered conditions of men and property ; 

 while dignitaries of ancient note, who were once considered to be, as 

 no doubt they really were, indispensable for the due administration 

 of the affairs of the times, gradually withdraw from our sight, to 

 exist only by name in the archives of the past. Not only do 

 offices, once important, become in the lapse of time altogether 



