115' 
C O N. 
tile- conftable in tlie execution of his office Jiaving the 
fame protection that the law gives to the conftable. 2 
Hide F. C. 97. If he-be-removed without juft caufe, the 
court of king’s-bench will, by rule of court, order him. 
to be reftored to his place. B'uljl. 174. A juft-ice of peace’s 
warrant is a fuffitient juftificatioii of a conftable - in a mat¬ 
ter within the jurifdiction of fuch juftice. Stra. 711. By 
iS Geo. III. c. 19. every conftable is every three months, 
and within fourteen days after he goes out of office, to 
deliver to the overfeers- of the poor an account entered 
in a book, kept for the purpoie, and figned by him, of 
all fums by him expended and received on account of the 
parifh, &c. which overfeers are within fourteen days to 
lay the-fame before the inhabitants, and, if approved, 
are to pay the money due out of the poor rates; but, if dif- 
allowed, are to deliver the book back to the conftable, 
.who may produce it before a juftice of peace, giving rea- 
fdnable notice to the overfeers; which juftice is to ex¬ 
amine the account, determine objections, lettle the fum 
due, and enter it in, and fign the account; and the over¬ 
feers are to pay fuch fum out of the poor’s rate ; but may 
appeal (giving notice) to the quarter fellions. 
6. A conjlablc arrefting one po (felled of mpney, who 
dies, is chargeable with the money. And lo where he 
takes from a felon money of which he has robbed an¬ 
other, even though he lhould be afterwards robbed of it 
himfelf. Ou>. 121. Neglecting a duty incumbent on him, 
either by common law, or by ftatute, he is, for his de¬ 
fault, indiftable. 1 §alk. 381. If he will not return his 
warrant, or certify what he has done under it, he may be 
fined. 6 Mod. 83. If he wilfully lets a felon efcape out 
of the flocks, and go at large, it is felony. 1 Hale P. C. 
596. And it feems generally agreed, that all voluntary 
efcapes in the officer, amount to the fame crime as the 
offender was guilty of, whether treafon or felony. 2 Hawk. 
P. C. c. 19. It is a mifdemeanour in him to difeharge an 
offender brought to the watch-houfe by a watchman in 
the night. 2 Burr. 867. He is liable to various pecuniary, 
and fo me times perfonal, punifhments, on negleCting the 
duty kapofed on him by feveral ftatutes. Upon the- 
whole, the office of conftable is of very conliderable 
magnitude, and fupported and dignified by the ftatutes 
with high-authority ; but it is often filled with difficulty 
and detriment; and error, or miftake in the execution of 
it, fubjebts the party to fevere pains and penalties. 
To over-run the CONSTABLE, [perhaps from contejla- 
ble, Fr. the fettled, firm, and ftated account.] To fpend 
more than what a man knows himfelf to be worth. A 
low phraje. 
CON'STABLESHIP,/ The office of a conftable.— 
This keeperfhip is annexed to the conjlablejhip of the caf- 
tle, and that granted out in leafe. Carew. 
CON'STADT, a town of Silefia, in the principality 
of Oels : thirteen miles eaft-fouth-eaft of Namflau, and 
twenty-three north-eaft of Brieg. 
CON'STANCE, a city of Germany, in the circle of 
Swabia, fituated on a lake called Boden Sea, or the Lake 
of Conjlance ; it is very ancient, and was formerly impe¬ 
rial, but placed under the ban of the empire in the year 
1548, by the emperor Charles the Fifth, for deferting 
the Roman catholic religion. In 1549, it was placed 
under the power of the houfe of Auftria, by Ferdinand I. 
and, though the eftates of Swabia refufed their affent, 
the fubjeftion was ratified by the diet at Auglburg. iBe- 
ing negleCled by the houfe of Auftria, the town fell to 
decay : lome attempts were made by the emperor Jo- 
feph, in 1785, to introduce fome manufactures from Ge¬ 
neva, by allowing a free exercife of religious worfhip, 
which may in time operate in its favour. It was ereCted 
into a biffiopric in 570, the fee being removed hither 
from Windifh, a place in Swiiferland, about fix miles 
diftant. The bifhop, however, as a prince of the circle 
of Swabia, no longer refides at Conftance ; his refidence 
is at Merlberg. From the year 1414 to 1418, was held 
C O N 
here a famous council, in which John Hufs and Jerom 
of Prague were both fentenced to be burned. Thirty 
miles eaft-north-eaft of Zurich. I.at. 47. 36. N. ion. 26. 
48. E. Ferro. 
CON'STANCE, a l ike of Swiiferland. See Bodfn 
Sea. 
CON'STANCY, f. [dtnjlantia , Lat.] Immutability; 
perpetuity ; unalterable continuance.—The laws of God 
himfelf no man will ever deny to be of a different confti- 
tution from the former, in refpeCl of the one’s conflancy, 
and the mutability of the other. Hooker. —Confiftencv ; 
unvaried ftate.—Incredible, that conflancy in fuch a va¬ 
riety, fuch a multiplicity, lhould be the refult of chance. 
Ray. —halting affeCtion ; continuance of love, or friend - 
Hiip.•— Conflancy is fuch a liability and ftrmnefs of friend- 
Hiip, as overlooks and pa lies by lelfer failures of kind¬ 
ue fs, and yet ftill retains the lame habitual good-will to 
a friend. South .— Certainty; veracity; reality; 
But all the ftory of the night told over, 
More witneffeth than fancy's images, 
And grows to fpmething of great conflancy, 
But, "however, ftrange and admirable.- Skakefpcarc. 
Refolution; firmnefs; fteadinefs; unlhaken determination; 
In a final 1 ille, amidft the wideft feas, 
Triumphant conflancy has fix’d her feat; 
In vain the fyrens ftng, the tempefts beat. Prior. 
None of the Chriftian virtues can be more amiable than 
this fpecies of unlhaken conflancy, which fupplies us with 
courage to execute the commands of reafon and confci- 
ence ; to maintain the dignity of our nature, and the Ela¬ 
tion affigned us ; and to be proof again!! poverty, pain, 
and death itfelf, fo far not to do any thing that is lcan- 
dalous or linful to avoid them. 
A noble inftance of heroic conftancy has been afforded 
in our own country, and in the conduct of an illuftrious 
female, whicli may vie with any of the renowned exam¬ 
ples recorded in the annals of Greece or Rome. Sir 
William Alkew, of Kelfay, in Lincolnfhire, had feveral 
daughters. His fecond, named Anne, had received a 
genteel education ; which, with an agreeable figure and 
good underftand-ing, rendered her a very proper perfon 
to be at the head of a family. Her father, regardlefs of 
Ills daughter’s inclination and happinefs, obliged her to 
marry a gentleman who had nothing to recommend him 
but his fortune, and who was a moft bigoted papift. No 
fooner was he convinced of his wife’s regard for the doc¬ 
trines of the reformation, than he violently drove her 
from his houfe, though flic had borne him two children. 
Abandoned by her hulband, Ihe went to London, to 
make herfelf known to that part of the court who either 
profeifed, or were favourers of, proteftanifm : but as 
Henry VIII. with confent of parliament, had juft enacted 
the law of the fix articles, commonly called the bloody 
flatute, fhe was cruelly betrayed by her own hulband; and, 
upon his information, taken into cuftody, and examined 
concerningherfaith. The aft above-mentioned denounced 
death again!! all thofe who lhould deny the dftcrine of trar- 
fubftantiation. She was examined before the lord-mayor 
of London, the inquifitor, and the bifhop’s chancellor; and 
to all their queries fhe gave proper and pertinent anfwers ; 
but, not being fuch as they approved, Ihe was fent back 
to prifon, where Hie remained eleven days to ruminate 
alone on her alarming fituation, and was denied the fmall 
confolation of a friendly vilit. The king’s-council being 
at Greenwich, Hie was once more examined by chancellor 
Wriothefiey, Gardiner bifliop of Winchefter, Dr. Cox, 
a^id Dr. Robinfon ; but not being able to convince her 
of' fuppofed errors, fhe was fent to the Tower. It was 
ftrongly fufpeCtecl that Mrs. Alkew was favoured by 
fome ladies of high rank ; and that Hie carried on a re¬ 
ligious correfpondence with the queen. So that the 
chancellor Wriothefley, hoping that he might difeover 
fomething 
