110 
C O N 
1^98. All thefe confpirators were executed. — Ag-ainlt 
James I. by the marchionefs de Verneuil his miftiefs,' 
and others, 1604.—The gunpowder plot, difcovered No¬ 
vember 4, 1605.— Of Sinderconib and others, to atffiffi- 
nate Oliver Cromwell; difcovered by.his alfociates. Sin- 
dercomfo was condemned, and poifoned himfelf the day 
before he was to have been executed, Baker's 
Chronicle. —An infurredtion of the puritans, 1607.—An 
infurredtion of the fifth monarchy-men again'!: Charle’s II. 
i66o. —A confpiracy of Blood and his alfociates, who 
feized the duke ol Ormond, wounded him, and would 
have hanged him, if he had not efcaped ; they after¬ 
wards Hole the crown, 1670 and 7r.—Of the French, 
Sp.anilh, and Engliih, jefuits, countenanced by the pope, 
to alfaflinate Charles II. difcovered by Dr. Tongue and 
Titus Oates, 1678 ; another to alfaflinate him at the Rye- 
houfe farm, near Hoddefdon, Hertfordihire, in his way 
from Newmarket, called The Rye-hoitfc plot, 1683. —Gf'lord 
Prefton, the bilhop of Ely, and others, to reftore king 
James, 1691.—Of Granval, a French chevalier, and his 
alfociates, to alfaffinate king William in F lander , 1692. 
—A confpiracy by the earl of Aylefbury and others, to 
kill the king, near Richmond, as he came from hunting; 
difcovered by Pendergrafs, called The afefination plot , 
1695. —Of Simon Frazer, lord Lovat, in favour of the 
pretender, again!! queen Anne, 1703. —Of the marquis 
Giiifcard, 1710.—-To alfaflinate George I. by James 
Shephard, an enthufialiic youth, who had been taught 
to confider the king as an ufurper, 171S.—Of counfellor 
Layer and others to bring in the pretender, 1722; in 
Scotland, for the like purpofe, 1743.— Again!! papifts, 
17S0.—.Again!! the life of his prelent nrajeliy, 1795, 
1796, 1801..—In Ireland, to favour the French, 1798.— 
On-board the fleet at Spithead, and at Sheernefs, 1797 ; 
in Bantry-bay,' 1801. See Riots, and Chronology. 
CONSPI'RANT, adj. fonfpirans, Lat.] Confpiring ; 
engaging in a confpiracy or plot; plotting : 
Thou art a traitor, 
Confpirant ’gain!! this high illufrrious prince. • Shakefpearc. 
CONSPIRA'TION, f. [ confpiratio , Lat.] An agree¬ 
ment of many to one end.—One would wonder how, 
from fo differing premifes, they fliould infer the fame 
conclulion, were it not that the cohjpiralion of intereft 
were too potent for the diverfity of judgment. Decay 
of Piety. 
CONSPI'RATOR, f, [from confpiro , Lat.] A man 
engaged, in a plot; one who has fecretly concerted with 
others commiflion of a crime ; a plotter.—Achitophel is 
among the confpirators with Abfalom. 2 Samuel. —Stand 
back thou manifeft corfpirator. Shakefpeare. 
But let the bold confpirator beware ; 
For heav’n makes princes its peculiar care. Dry den. 
To CONSPI'RE, v. 7i. \_confpiro i Lat.] To concert a 
crime; to plot; to hatch fecret treafon.—They took 
great indignation, and confpired again!! the king. Apocry¬ 
pha. —There is in man a natural poltbility to deftroy the 
world ; that is, to confpire to know no woman. Brozun. 
The prefs, the pulpit, and the ftage, 
Confpire to cenfure and expofe our ago. Rofcommon. 
To agree together: as, all things confpire to make him happy ; 
So moil! and dry, when Phoebus Ihines, 
Confpiring give the plant to grow. Heigh. 
CONSPI'RER,/; A confpirator ; a plotter ; 
Take no care, 
Who chafes, »vho frets, and where conjpirers are : 
Macbeth Ihall never vanquifh’d be. Shakefpeare. 
CONSPI'RING POWERS, in mechanics. All fuch 
as adt in diredtion not oppofite to one another. Harris. 
CONSPURCA'TION, f. [from confpurco, Lat.] The 
abt of defiling ; defilement; pollution. 
CGN'STABLE, f. An officer of police, appointed 
4 
C O' X 
annually in every piarifh, either by thi - name, or by that 
Of tythiugman or hcadborough , to keep the peace. The ori¬ 
gin of. the word confahte, erroneoufly fought for in the 
Saxon language, is undoubtedly to be found in the conus 
fabuli of the eallern empire ; who was at fir!!, as his title 
imports, no more than fuperintendant of •tife imperial 
ltables ; or, in other words, the emperor’s mailer of the 
horfe ; but having in procefs of time obtained the com¬ 
mand of the army, his name, corrupted into confabulus 
and confabidarius, began to fignify a commander; and with 
this fignification appears to have been introduced into 
England at the Norman conqueft, or perhaps fooner. 
The Consta b.le" of England, or Lord' High Confable , 
was' anciently an officer of the higheft dignity and im¬ 
portance in the realm. Pie was the leader of the king’s 
armies, and had the cognizance of all contrabts and other 
matters touching arms or war. 13 Rich. II. c. 2. Pie fat 
as judge with the earl marfhal, having precedence of him 
in the court of chivalry; and he is by fome law-books 
alfo called marfial. This office, which appears to have 
Ibeen granted by William the Conqueror to Walter earl 
of Gloueefter, or, according to others, to William Fitz- 
olborne or Roger de Mortimer, became hereditary in two 
different families, as annexed to the earldom of Hereford-; 
and in that right, after q lapfc of near two centuries, was , 
revived' by judgment of law, in the perfon of Edward 
Stafford duke of Buckingham; who, being attainted of 
high treafon, 13 Henry VIII. this office became forfeited 
to the crown. Since this period there has been no lord 
high conftable, except pro liar, vice at a coronation, or on 
other folemn occafions. 
Constables of Castles, were keepers or governors 
of the caftles of the king, or of great barons, and who 
were frequently hereditary, or by feudal tenure ; fuch 
were the conftable of the Tower, the conftable of Lon¬ 
don, or Baynard’s-Caftle, the conllables of the caftles of 
Dover, Windfor, Chefter, Flint, See. fome of which of¬ 
fices, though not now hereditary, are remaining to this 
day. Thefe are the conftables intended in Magna Charta, 
c. 17, 20; and who, in the ftatute of Weftminfter 1; 
3 Edw. I. c. 13, are called conftables of fees, and there 
confidered as keepers of prifons ; a conftituent part in¬ 
deed of all ancient caftles. The ftatute of 5 Henry IV. 
c. 10. reciting the oppreflions of thefe conftables, and 
enacting that no perlbns be imprifoned but in the com¬ 
mon gaol, feems to have put an end to a race of tyrants, 
who by their mifeondub! had rendered themfelves odious 
t6 the people. A conftable of the exchequer, and a con- 
llablc of the llaple, is mentioned in fome old ftatutes. See 
27 Edw. Ill, c. 8. 15 Rich. II. c. 9. 23PIen. VIII. c. 6. 
Constable of the Hundred, called alfo High, Chief 
or Head, Confable. By the ftatute of Winchefter, 13 
Edward I. c. 6. it is ordained, that in every hundred or 
franchife there Ihall be chofen two conftables to make 
the view of armour, and to prefent the defaults of ar¬ 
mour, and of the fuits of towns and of highways, &c„ 
Lambard, Coke, and Hale, all agree in declaring, that 
conftables of the hundred were firft introduced by this 
ftatute. And though it has been alferted that they were 
officers and confervators of the peace at common law, 
and that the ftatute of Winchefter only enlarged their 
authority, yet no evidence has hitherto been produced 
to that purpofe. The firft mention made of the high 
conftable in any ftatute fubfequent to that of Winchefter, 
is in 3 Edw. IV. c. 1. Nothing, however, can be more 
certain, than that the conftable of the hundred, or high 
conftable, whether he be allowed an officer at the com, 
mon law, or not, was inftitutecl long before the ftatute of 
Winchefter. This curious fab! is afeertained by a writ 
or mandate of 36 Hen. VIII. preferved in the Adverfaria 
to Watts’s edition of Matthew Paris, andfrom which the 
fourth and fixth chapters of the ftatute of Winchefter are 
evidently taken ; though it has hitherto efcaped the no¬ 
tice of every writer upon the fubjedt. By this writ it is 
provided, “ that in every hundred there Ihould be con- 
ftituted 
