APPENDIX I.

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even so far on a level with the people, that a Appendixstated price was fixed for his head, and a legal 1.fine was levied upon his murderer, which , thoughproportionate to his station, and superior to thatpaid for the life of a subject, was a sensible markof his subordination to the community.

It is easy to imagine , that an independent s '^' el ^ onpeople , so little restrained by law, and cultivatedby science , would not be very strict in maintaininga regular succession of their princes. Thoughthey paid great regard to the royal family, andascribed to it an undisputed superiority , theyeither had no rule , or none that was steadily ob-served, in filling the vacant throne; and presentconvenience , in that emergency , was moreattended to than general principles. We are nothowever to suppose , that the crown was consideredas altogether elective; and that a regular planwas traced by the constitution for supplying,by the suffrages of the people , every vacancymade by the demise of the first magistrate. If anyking left a son of an age and capacity fit forgovernment, the young prince naturally steppedinto the throne: If he was a minor, his uncle,or the next prince of the blood , was promotedto the government, and left the sceptre to hisposterity: Any sovereign, by taking previousmeasures with the leading men , had it greatlyin his power to appoint his successor: All thesechanges, and indeed the ordinary administrationof government, required the express concurrence ,or at least the tacit acquiescence of the people; but

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